24 September 2020
Purpose
This Industry Advice Notice (IAN) is to advise that the mandatory use of the Plant Exports Management System (PEMS) will be delayed for system integration clients to 1 February 2021.
Summary of changes and key points
- The mandate for PEMS was initially scheduled for 1 October 2020, but is now scheduled for 1 February 2021 for system integration clients.
- Vendors that will be ready prior to this new extension should continue to progress.
- The extension will allow more users to be compliant with the mandate when it is enforced, as non-compliance will result in authorisation requests being rejected if provided in a non-approved format.
Background
PEMS is an IT system that is used to capture and store information relating to the export of plants and plant products from Australia; including plant product export inspection, calibration results and transport units.
In May 2019, PEMS was made available to all plant export external AOs, exporters, EDI users and registered establishment executives, across Australia.
The department has been working closely with a number of third-party software providers to progress system integration with PEMS. Several vendors have expressed that due to travel restrictions, and other business factors outside of their control, it may not be possible for all clients to have completed the integration process. Therefore, the department agreed to extend the date for completion until 1 February 2021.
Businesses that use third party plant exports software programs are exempt from using PEMS until system integration work is completed.
Further information about PEMS is available on the Plant Export Management System webpage. Refer to IAN 2020-57, 2020-27, 2020-19, 2019-39, 2019-32, 2019-20, 2018-47 and 2018-55 for further background.
AO responsibilities
All AOs who are already using PEMS directly, must continue to do so.
Video tutorials are available on LearnHub for all AOs and user guides are published on the Plant Export Operations Manual. AOs should review the eLearning and user guides prior to using the system to develop the skills and knowledge to use the system correctly.
AOs that currently use an alternate system to create inspection records can continue to do so, until that system has completed the system integration process. Your vendor will advise when that system will be ready to exchange data with PEMS. You must be registered with PEMS to allow this data exchange to occur.
Exporter responsibilities
All exporters and other industry stakeholders who currently provide supporting documentation for plant and plant product inspections and/or calibrations should register as a PEMS user as soon as possible and commence using it to provide these supporting documents to avoid delays in the authorisation process.
Exporters who currently use a third-party software program to record Empty Container, Containerised Goods or Quality Systems Recognition inspections will need to check with their vendor to ensure that they are preparing their system for integration with PEMS.
Contact information
If you have any questions regarding this IAN please email PEMS Administrator.
For more information about PEMS system integration, please contact the PEMS Technical Support team.
David Ironside
Assistant Secretary
Plant Export Operations Branch