Product Safety and Integrity Committee

What is the Product Safety and Integrity Committee?

PSIC is a committee of the Standing Council on Primary Industries (SCoPI). Its role is to provide advice on issues relating to the safety and integrity of agricultural [primary] produce before it leaves the farm, including the safety and sustainability of agricultural [primary] production systems.

The committee coordinates national approaches for managing potential risks to food safety, public and occupational health, trade and the environment from:

• agricultural and veterinary chemicals (pesticides and veterinary medicines)
• fertilizers and animal feedstuffs
• environmental contaminants and residues in primary production systems.

The main focus of PSIC’s work has been in the area of agricultural and veterinary chemical management and it has published a brochure explaining Australia’s national system for managing agricultural and veterinary chemicals.

‘An Overview of Australia’s National System for Managing Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals’ PDF [164kb]

The Committee advises SCoPI in relation to policy direction for the National Registration Scheme for Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (NRS) and for the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) which registers agricultural and veterinary chemicals for use in Australia.

PSIC reports to SCoPI through the Animal Welfare and Product Integrity Taskforce and the Primary Industries Standing Committee.

Terms of Reference

1. To provide policy advice to PISC/SCoPI on issues in relation to those farm inputs which have the potential to affect the safety and integrity of primary production commodities and food and the sustainability of primary production systems. These include agricultural and veterinary chemicals, fertilizers, environmental contaminants/residues and animal feeds.

2. In doing so, PSIC will, in consultation with stakeholders:

• consider the implications for public health, occupational health and safety, environmental impact, efficacy, trade and the competitiveness and sustainability of primary industries
• develop strategies for implementing policy initiatives
• consider the effectiveness of legislation governing the National Registration Scheme for agricultural and veterinary chemicals and the need for reform
• identify, analyse and monitor product safety and integrity issues in Australia and overseas and initiate strategic planning on emerging key issues
• provide timely responses to requests from SCoPI/PISC for advice on specific issues and priority areas.

Membership

PSIC’s membership comprises representatives from:

• Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF)
• Australian state and territory departments responsible for agriculture
• New Zealand Food Safety Authority
• CSIRO
• APVMA
• Environment Protection and Heritage Council
• Workplace Relations Ministerial Council
• Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council

The Committee also has links with the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council and the Australia New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council.

COAG Review of Chemicals and Plastics Regulation

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has identified chemicals and plastics regulation as a regulatory ‘hot spot’ which means that it is an area in which COAG is seeking early regulatory reform to reduce the burden on businesses. As a result, COAG agreed to undertake a review of chemicals and plastics regulation and established a Ministerial Taskforce on Chemicals and Plastics Regulation to oversight the review process.

The review was informed by the Productivity Commission (PC) Research Study on Chemicals and Plastics Regulation. The final PC Report was publicly released on 7 August 2008 and recommended reforms in a number of areas, including agricultural and veterinary chemicals regulation. The report made two recommendations for which the Standing Council on Primary Industries (SCoPI) is responsible (recommendations 8.1 and 8.2).

Development of a PIMC response to COAG

In responding to the PC Report at its 29 November 2008 meeting, COAG directed SCoPI to bring forward, for its consideration in the first half of 2010, a proposal for a single, national framework to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the regulation of agricultural and veterinary chemicals. PSIC has been asked to develop a proposal on behalf of SCoPI.

PSIC developed a proposal for a single, national framework which was agreed by SCoPI on 23 April 2010 and was agreed by COAG out–of–session on 16 August 2010 and is published on their website at:

• National Policy Framework for the Assessment, Registration and Control of Use of Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (RTF 270 kb)
  
• National Policy Framework for the Assessment, Registration and Control of Use of Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (PDF 234 kb)

SCoPI is now required to bring forward a preferred regulatory model, IGA and funding model to COAG by December 2012.

Development of the proposal

In developing the proposal, all aspects of the national registration scheme for agricultural and veterinary chemicals needed to be examined — that is, regulations up to the point of retail sale as well as regulations controlling their use once they are sold. The process of developing the new framework also considered how the costs of regulatory activities under the new framework will be funded and mechanisms for recovering those costs.

The first major step was the public release of a discussion paper in November 2009 for broad stakeholder consultation. The discussion paper and stakeholder submissions to the discussion paper are below.

• A National Scheme for Assessment, Registration and Control of Use of Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals PDF [476kb]
• A National Scheme for Assessment, Registration and Control of Use of Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Word [482kb]

Responses to the Discussion Paper

Consultation Regulation Impact Statement

The COAG consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) for A National Scheme for Assessment, Registration and Control of Use of Agricultural and Veterinary sets out broad options for the single national framework, consistent with the policy principles that COAG approved in August 2010.

To further assist the development and implementation of the national framework, PSIC held stakeholder discussions in March 2011.

These meetings provided an opportunity to engage in discussion of the issues identified in the consultation RIS.

Submissions received on the consultation Regulation Impact Statement

Consultation Regulation Impact Statement: A National Scheme for Assessment, Registration and Control of Use Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals PDF [1.2mb]

Consultation Regulation Impact Statement: A National Scheme for Assessment, Registration and Control of Use Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Word [392kb]

Regulation Impact Statement

The draft Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) is currently being developed, and will be published once COAG has made a final decision.

Early Harvest Reforms

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to a range of policy and regulatory aimed at reducing the burden on business from the complex regulation of chemicals. The Business Regulation and Competition Working Group (BRCWG) is responsible for reporting on the progress of these reforms to COAG.

Of the 18 early harvest reforms, 10 were related to agvet chemicals, 7 of which were assigned to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) and the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA). Five of the seven early harvest reforms have been completed. Work on reform 5, water sanitisers for industrial use, is ongoing. Reform 9, improving data protection provisions for agricultural product registrants, will be considered under the Australian Government’s better chemical regulation reform following a BRCWG decision in December 2010.

Further, reform 3, maximum residue limit (MRL) administration, was progressed by the Department of Health and Ageing in conjunction with DAFF, APVMA and the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). Legislation to give effect to this reform came into effect on 1 March 2011. This has seen a reduction in the delay between the APVMA’s approval of a new chemical use and the publication of an MRL in the Food Standards Code, from between 12 and 18 months to a maximum of four months. This period may be further reduced in health emergencies.

Regulations were made in 2012 under the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Act 1994 to implement elements of reforms on labelling, regulating low risk appraisal processes and administration of minor use and emergency permits. This relates to reforms 8, 10 and 12.

For further progress on the early harvest reforms, visit the COAG website.

For further information:

Email

Phone the Switchboard: +61 2 6272 3933

Postal Address
PSIC Secretariat
Agricultural Productivity Division
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
GPO Box 858
Canberra ACT 2601