Date of Issue
27/03/2013
Date of effect
Midnight 27/03/2013
This Industry Advice Notice (IAN) updates the information provided in MAA No. 12/24.
Effective 1 January 2013, new certification arrangements came into effect for consignments of seafood (excluding live) exported to China. Additional fields within EXDOC will be implemented as of midnight Wednesday 27 March 2013 in preparation for future certification requirements. Industry will be provided further advice as more permanent arrangements are finalised.
New fields required when generating a request for permit (RFP)
Aquaculture
For aquaculture product (where supplementary code = AQ), the name of the aquaculture farm/area from which the product is sourced must be included in the RFP, this information will be the same as the aquaculture farms/harvest areas you are currently listing on the attachment “Aquaculture Seafood Exported from Australia to the People’s Republic of China”.
To do this within EXDOC, you must populate the Free Text Establishment details with ‘Establishment Type’ as ‘AQ’ (Aquaculture Farm), and the ‘Establishment Name’ field with the name of the aquaculture farm/area. All other fields within the ‘Free Text Establishment’ fields are optional.
For shellfish, you do not need to provide the additional Free Text Establishment details. You will continue to list the name of the Australian Shellfish Quality Assurance program-approved harvest area within the Harvest Area fields of the RFP as normal.
Wildcaught
For wildcaught product (where supplementary code = WO), the name of the vessel, both registered and unregistered, from which the product was sourced, must be included in the RFP.
If vessel is registered, you must populate the line establishment data and select ‘CT’ (Catcher Vessel) and provide the registered establishment number as you would now.
If vessel is not registered you must populate the Free Text Establishment details with ‘Establishment Type’ as ‘CT’ and the ‘Establishment Name’ field which must contain the name of the vessel and the commercial harvest or fisheries access license number. If product has been harvested without the use of a vessel (e.g. by a diver) list the name of the supplier and the commercial harvest or fisheries access license number.
Certification Requirements
Until further notice, all certificates associated with non-live seafood products to China must still be accompanied by a manual attachment completed by the exporter and sighted and signed by a Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) officer prior to export.
For aquaculture origin product, each consignment must still be accompanied by an attachment which provides a full list of the aquaculture area/farm of origin of the products, even though this information has been included in the RFP. Please see Market Access Advice 12/24 for more information.
For wildcaught product, each consignment must still be accompanied by an attachment that provides a full list of the names and numbers of the harvest vessels of the products, even though this information has been included in the RFP. Please see Market Access Advice 12/24 for more information.
Live Seafood Exports
The existing certificate templates remain unchanged for live seafood exports.
Contact Details
Note: If you incur problems raising an RFP, please contact your software provider in the first instance to confirm that you are using the updated software version.
If your software provider is unable to provide assistance, please contact your local regional office documentation team.
For general queries relating to the requirements outlined above, please email Fish.