You must notify the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry if you are planning to change or cancel your approved arrangement.
Requirements for making changes depends on the type of approved arrangement held, specifically whether you operate a site or perform a service.
Your approved arrangement declarant, manager or site manager must advise the department at least 15 business days prior to the proposed date of any changes to your approved arrangement.
If you need to suspend your site as a matter of urgency, please have the approved arrangements manager or site, contact email Approved Arrangements with the following details:
- Approved arrangements number
- Suspension type: whole or part
- Reason for the suspension
- Biosecurity risk management during the period of suspension.
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Suspending an approved arrangement
Biosecurity industry participants can request a whole or part suspension of their approved arrangement or request to extend their approved suspension.
A whole suspension is the suspension of all of the approved arrangement, a part suspension is the suspension of part of the approved arrangement, e.g. a class, area or a specific biosecurity activity and an extension is a request to increase the period of the already approved suspension.
When applying for a part suspension, please attach an updated version of your site map that clearly marks any changes and highlights the new biosecurity areas. Examples of when it would be appropriate to attach a site map to your request are as follows:
- Greenhouses A, B and C are approved at the same approved arrangement site and greenhouse C needs to be suspended for three months to undertake structural repairs. Goods subject to biosecurity are moved to greenhouse A and greenhouse C is decontaminated prior to repairs occurring.
- A room within an approved arrangement site is suspended due to damage or the need to upgrade, for example, an air-handling unit. The rest of the site remains approved while the room and direct access to that room is limited to enable easy access for trade’s persons to undertake repair or modifications. Goods subject to biosecurity are moved to another co-located site.
An onsite audit maybe required prior to the approval of the suspension. At this audit, you may be required to provide evidence of how any goods subject to biosecurity control that were onsite have been moved, destroyed or otherwise dealt with. For sites with a wash bay being suspended you will need to provide a copy of an invoice for a flush, disinfect and emptying of the wash bay sludge pit and tanks.
Whole, part or extension suspension requests must be made by completing the below request and submitting it to Approved Arrangements. Please ensure you include as much information as possible to avoid the department having to request more information and delay the process. Please submit one request per site.
| Documents | Pages | File size |
|---|---|---|
Request for suspension of an approved arrangement PDF  | 4 | 239 KB |
Request for suspension of an approved arrangement DOCX  | 4 | 72 KB |
If you have difficulty accessing these files, visit web accessibility for assistance.
Lifting a suspension
The Biosecurity industry participant will need to contact Approved Arrangements 15 business days prior to the end of their suspension to arrange a reinstatement audit.
Fees
Suspensions will be charged fee-for-service rates for the time taken to conduct the assessment. The average assessment time for whole suspensions is three hours although some requests may take longer. If the assessment time is expected to be longer than five hours, the department will contact you to see if you wish to proceed.
The average assessment time for part suspensions is four hours although some requests may take longer. If the assessment time is expected to be longer than six hours, the department will contact you to see if you wish to proceed.
The average assessment time for suspension extensions is two hours although some requests may take longer. If the assessment time is expected to be longer than four hours, the department will contact you to see if you wish to proceed.
Information about current fees and charges is available on the department's website.
Revoking an approved arrangement
Revocation requests must be made by completing the below request and submitting it to Approved Arrangements.
The notice period for a proposed revocation of an approved arrangement is 15 business days, starting on the day on which the relevant delegate receives the request for the revocation. Please nominate your intended date of closure, ensuring the date is at least 15 business days from the day you submit this request. We cannot accept a request if the date is less than 15 business days.
| Documents | Pages | File size |
|---|---|---|
| Request for revocation of an approved arrangement PDF | 4 | 140 KB |
| Request for revocation of an approved arrangement DOCX | 4 | 68 KB |
If you have difficulty accessing these files, visit web accessibility for assistance.
Prior to the revocation the department will confirm that:
- goods subject to biosecurity, including waste, have been removed from the site through:
- release from biosecurity
- department movement direction to another approved arrangement site
- disposal by a department approved provider
- destruction
- exportation
- there are no outstanding/active biosecurity directions
- quarantine and biosecurity signs have been removed from display, after the goods subject to biosecurity have been removed from the site
- equipment used for goods subject to biosecurity control have been cleaned and disinfected using a department approved disinfectant
- sites with a wash bay have provided a copy of an invoice for the emptying, flushing and disinfection of the wash bay sludge pit and tanks
On-site audit
An on-site audit may be required. At this audit, you will need to provide evidence that biosecurity waste has been collected by a department-approved waste transporter. You may also be required to provide evidence of how any goods subject to biosecurity control that were on site have been moved, destroyed, or otherwise dealt with. See close out audits below.
Remote audit (Optional)
To be considered for a remote audit in place of an on-site audit, you must also complete sections F, G, H and I of the request for revocation of an approved arrangement form and provide supporting evidence.
Fees
Revocations will be charged fee-for-service rates for the time taken to conduct the assessment. The average assessment time for a revocation is two hours although some requests may take longer.
Close out audits
If necessary, an onsite audit will be conducted to close out the approved arrangement site. Fee for service charges will apply for the onsite audit, including pre- and post-audit activity.
Before the close out audit is conducted you must make sure:
- goods subject to biosecurity, including waste, have been removed from the site through:
- release from biosecurity
- department movement direction to another approved arrangement site
- disposal by a department approved provider
- destruction
- exportation
- quarantine and biosecurity signs have been removed from display, after the goods subject to biosecurity have been removed from the site
- equipment used for goods subject to biosecurity control have been cleaned and disinfected using a department approved disinfectant.
At the audit you will be required to provide the following evidence:
- waste and dunnage was collected by a department approved waste transporter
- for sites with a wash bay:
- copy of invoice for ‘flush and disinfect’ of wash bay sludge pit and tanks
- evidence of removal of liquid waste subject to biosecurity has been removed by a department approved liquid waste transporter.
Note: Approved arrangement operators must retain, and make available to the department, records for a minimum period of 18 months after biosecurity clearance or disposal of goods subject to biosecurity.
Decommissioning and refurbishment of class 5 and 7
Where operators of class 5 and 7 approved arrangements propose to:
- cease operations
- renovate their site for purposes of obtaining compliance with the updated class 5 requirements
- undertake a generic site upgrade.
The department requires that any risk of biosecurity concern is treated appropriately before the cessation of operations as an approved arrangement or the start of the refurbishment. This includes the disinfection of equipment, accessories and fittings, waste piping, filter media and any other components of the site that has the potential to be host material for goods of biosecurity concern.
The department has produced checklists to help operators to develop a refurbishment/decommissioning plan. These checklists are intended to assist operators in mitigating biosecurity risks associated with their operations. The processes required to be implemented are determined by the level of containment provided by the facility and the risk associated with the biosecurity material handled.
If you have difficulty accessing this file, visit web accessibility for assistance.
Further information
Please contact the department for more information regarding the Suspending or revoking approved arrangements process.