Issue Date: 16 May 2003
The Taiwan Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ) have agreed to an AQIS request to extend their proposed deadline for acceptance of only EXDOC electronic certification to 31 December 2003.
AQIS sought the extension after receiving feedback from industry that the proposed 30 April deadline was unreasonable and difficult for industry to comply with.
Background:
- Earlier this year Taiwan BAPHIQ advised AQIS that it was considering accepting only electronic (EXDOC)certification and proposed a deadline of 30 April 2003 for the switchover.
- AQIS consulted with the Australian export industries including the Horticulture Export Industry through IAN 2003/01 on Taiwan’s intention and requested feedback on the feasibility of meeting this deadline.
- As a result of industry feedback AQIS sought an extension. BAPHIQ have agreed to the request and extended the deadline to 31 December 2003.
- AQIS have also advised BAPHIQ that even in a full electronic system there will be circumstances where manual certification will be used as a contingency.
Options for the industry in meeting this deadline
The Horticulture Program has identified options for the industry in order to meet Taiwan’s new deadline for replacing manual certification with electronic EXDOC certification by 31 December 2003.
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As the first step, all exporters must *register with EXDOC, as all exporters who require their name to be printed on the electronic export documentation must be registered with the EXDOC Administrator(Grain/Horticulture).
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Once registered with EXDOC those exporters who are not EXDOC Users already or do not have access to perate in the EXDOC environment will have three options as follows:
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To progress the EDI USER Registration by signing up with a software supplier to have ccess to EXDOC enabling the exporter to operate in an EXDOC test evironment initially and then migrate to the “production environment’ once testing has been successfully completed.
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To employ the services of an agent who is already a registered EDI USER to lodge an RFP with EXDOC in order to prepare electronic certification on their behalf.
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Create a Request for Permit (RFP) at a major AQIS office and produce electronic certification with each export (Additional costs are associated with this service). - this option is available for casual/non-commercial or infrequent export
*To register with EXDOC or to become an EDI User, horticulture and grain clients should contact the EXDOC Administrator (Grain/Horticulture) on telephone: 02 6272 5728 or e-mail Bev Beacham.