Date issued 14 April 2004
This advice is to remind Industry and AQIS staff that the final deadline for EXDOC certification for horticulture and grain products for Taiwan is 30 June 2004.
All Phytosanitary Certificates for horticulture and grain products for Taiwan must strictly be electronic effective from 1 July 2004, except in emergency circumstances. Previous Industry Advice Notice (IAN) No 2003/14 also refers.
Background:
Earlier, on behalf of the Australian industry, AQIS asked the Taiwan Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ) to postpone the deadline for introduction of electronically generated EXDOC certification. At the Bilateral Technical Discussions held in Taiwan on 8 October 2003, BAPHIQ agreed to extend the deadline to 30 June 2004. BAPHIQ has indicated that this would be the final extension and that no manual Phytosanitary Certificates will be accepted after 30 June 2004, except for emergency circumstances.
Options for the industry in meeting this deadline:
The Plant Programs have identified the following options for the industry to meet Taiwan’s deadline for replacing manual certification with electronic EXDOC certification by 30 June 2004:
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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 operate in the EXDOC environment will have three options as follows:
1) Adopt EXDOC capacity within your business (EDI USER). If you wish to take up this option you will need to progress the EDI USER Registration by signing up with a software supplier to have access to EXDOC. This will enable the exporter to operate in an EXDOC test environment initially and then migrate to the 'production environment' once testing has been successfully completed.
Exporters choosing this option must become fully accredited EDI Users by June 2004.
2) Employ the services of an agent who is already a registered and approved full EDI USER to lodge an RFP with EXDOC in order to prepare electronic certification on their behalf.
3) 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 exports and will involve a fee of $50 for each log on as EXDOC casual user apart from other fees such as the documentation fee.
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.
Mike Robbins
Manager, Plant Quarantine Program
Plant Programs
Contact Officer: Bev Beacham
Telephone: 02 6272 5728
Facsimile:02 6272 3745