20 April 2016
Purpose
To advise industry of clarified requirements for listing place of origin on Phytosanitary certificates for export of horticulture commodities under the Australia-New Zealand Bilateral Quarantine Arrangement Systems Operation Manual 6E.
Background
When exporting multiple commodities to New Zealand under different treatment Appendices of the BQA SOM 6E, there have been difficulties arising when the different commodity lines originated from various production areas, or were treated in different states/territories of Australia.
When ‘Place of Origin’ on a single Phytosanitary certificate containing multiple lines under different treatment appendices defaults to the state of consignment consolidation or export phytosanitary inspection, this can result in delays at the New Zealand border. Difficulties arise when determining the production zone of commodities that are being exported under specialist treatment appendices such as winter window (Appendix 11), or fruit fly pest free area (Appendix 2). Appendices 2 and 11 may only be utilised for commodities produced in certain states of Australia.
In these instances horticulture cargo may be detained until states of origin under particular appendices are resolved. The Horticulture Exports Program (HEP) of the department assists with detained cargo, and incur significant time and resource costs in performing relevant traceback and consultation activities with New Zealand to release goods for the Australian horticulture industry involved.
The different treatment appendices that are available under the BQA SOM 6E are listed below.
Treatment appendices of the Australia-New Zealand Bilateral Quarantine Arrangement Systems Operation Manual 6E (BQA SOM 6E)
- Appendix 2: Endemic fruit fly pest free area
- Appendix 3: Methyl bromide fumigation
- Appendix 4: Dimethoate dip
- Appendix 5: Cold disinfestation
- Appendix 6: Non host status
- Appendix 10: Field control programs
- Appendix 11: Winter window (complemented by Appendix 10)
- Appendix 12: Irradiation
For detail on which appendices are applicable to fruit fly host commodities that can be exported to New Zealand, please refer to the BQA SOM 6E. To access the BQA SOM 6E, you must be a registered Micor Plants user. The registration page can be accessed through Micor Plants.
Summary of changes and key points
- BQA SOM 6E commodities exported to New Zealand under Appendices 2 and 11 (used in conjunction with Appendix 10) must have state of production listed in the ‘Place of Origin’ section of the Phytosanitary certificate
- BQA SOM 6E commodities exported under Appendices 3 and 4 (may be used in conjunction with Appendix 10), 5 and 12 must have state of production or phytosanitary treatment in the ‘Place of Origin’ section
- BQA SOM 6E commodities exported under Appendix 6 must have state of production in the ‘Place of Origin’ section, or commodities exported under Appendix 6 must have the state where of Department of Agriculture and Water Resources industry/internal authorised officer export inspection took place in the ‘Place of Origin’ section
- If an exporter would like to export multiple BQA SOM 6E commodity lines to New Zealand in a single consignment and more than one Australian state as per the above requirements (place of production/treatment/export inspection) must appear on the Phytosanitary certificate, then the exporter must utilise the EXDOC certificate request functionality to apply for multiple RFPs into one Phytosanitary certificate
- A maximum of three states can appear in the ‘Place of Origin’ section on a Phytosanitary certificate. If the consignment contains commodity lines from more than three different states as per the above requirements, then the consignment must be split over multiple Phytosanitary certificates.
Contact Information
If you have any questions regarding this IAN please email Horticulture Exports Program ACT.
Dr Chris Parker
Assistant Secretary
Plant Export Operations Branch