Related Websites

• Office International des Epizooties (OIE)
• International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC)

Yes. For examples of Transfer Certificates and Declarations of Compliance, see Export Documentation—A Guideline to compliance with the Export Control (Fish and Fish Products) Orders 2005.

Each establishment can only make a 'Declaration of Compliance' for the product that they have processed up until the point of transfer. After that point it is then out of their control and the next establishment will be responsible for making a 'Declaration of Compliance' as to how they have handled it.

AQIS is not saying that every consignment needs to be checked against the export documents raised prior to export. What you do need to do is to have a system of review in place to be able to verify that the export documents being raised are true and correct and that the information flow from you to the agent is working correctly.

(Due to the cut off times with international flights, packing of orders may take place at 3 or 4am—times when an AQIS officer may not be available to issue certificates—especially Chinese Health Certificates which must be collected from an AQIS office.)

The processor and/or exporter cannot issue the Certificate of Compliance and Final Declaration of Compliance until the goods have been packed and are ready for export. This is because these declarations cannot be made until the consignment has been completed and packed ready for export and the details of the consignment confirmed.

From AQIS's point of view, the exporter is the person or identity listed as such on  the export documents not the agent. However the agent assumes legal responsibility for the documents they raise on behalf of the exporter under option 2. Therefore, the two options are :

1. You will need to send the Final Declaration of Compliance to the exporter and then receive the Exporter Declaration of Compliance from them before you raise the export documents.
2. You are able to provide the exporters declaration as you are acting on behalf of the exporter; in this case you assume the legal responsibility of the exporter as under legislation (Export Control Prescribed Goods – General) Orders 2005 – Order 6.07

The declared weight—which is the weight written on the label—is the weight that the government certificate must record.

The exporter of the product is required to be in possession of a declaration of compliance applicable to the products being exported that has been made by the establishment that last prepared (rather than merely stored, handled or loaded) the product to be exported.

That is—a declaration of compliance made by a representative of the establishment whose Reg. Est. No. is included in the trade description of the cartons being exported.

No. All export registered establishments must have an Approved Arrangement in place to operate.

All activities including desktop audit and site audit associated with approving the Approved Arrangement will attract current Fee-for Service charges. Audit activities conducted on-site will attract an out-of-office fee.

AQIS has a responsibility to their clients to treat all information provided in the strictest confidence.

Yes, provided that all product lines are adequately documented under the Approved Arrangement and there are suitable controls in place to prevent cross-contamination.

No, however Internal Audits will need to cover all of the required elements of the Approved Arrangement and must be conducted at least once every twelve months. A written record must be made of the internal audit and the results of the internal audit.

HACCP is an integral part of the Approved Arrangement. The HACCP system is a system of documenting your particular food processing activities and identifying specific hazards that may occur and measures for their control to ensure the resultant food is fit for human consumption. The Approved Arrangement must contain a HACCP Plan. Details of what must be contained in a HACCP plan can be found under Schedule 2 Clause 3 of the Export Control (Fish and Fish Products) Orders 2005.

The Approved Arrangement is the manual that documents your organisational structure, policies and all of your operational procedures, that is, how you will go about ensuring that your food products are fit for human consumption (Support Programs, GMP—Good Manufacturing Programs, Pre-requisite Programs) and that they continue to comply with importing country requirements and the Export Control (Fish and Fish Products) Orders 2005—including how you will meet requirements for traceability, trade description and export documentation.

This depends on what the result is to be used for. If the result of the test is to be used to make a statement on a government certificate or if required by the importing country, then yes, a NATA laboratory must do the testing. However, if the results are purely for verification of your HACCP or for other 'internal' needs then no, you can use any laboratory to test your product. However the lab will need to follow the Australian Standards where the Food Standards Code states one is to be used.

You must be able to trace back to whoever supplied you with the product or the ingredients (including catcher boats) and you need to be able to trace where or to whom your products were sent.

You must maintain sufficient records and traceability of product to ensure trace-back to the individual lot of food prepared by your establishment and trace-back to the supplier of the ingredients used in each lot.

Conducting a 'mock recall' is a good way to test your systems and then make amendments where problems or deficiencies have been identified.

You will need to detail in your Approved Arrangement the processes or procedures that you have in place to ensure that product sourced from catcher vessels is sourced only from catcher vessels with:

• disease management controls in place that ensure only healthy fish are harvested for food
• effective measures in place to ensure fish are not treated with a substance that could adversely affect the fitness for human consumption of the fish
• effective measures in place to ensure processing (including transport) is carried out under conditions that will ensure the fitness for human consumption of the food is not adversely affected
• effective measures in place to ensure that fish are place under temperature control as soon as practicable after harvesting.

Water is fundamental to processing, so you need to be able to assure AQIS and yourself that it will not be a critical risk to your processing. For this reason you need to have a regular program of checking your water status. Frequency of testing will be dictated by several factors including importing country requirements, past results, condition of water supply systems, environmental factors and how much product you are willing to re-test or recall should you receive a result that indicates that your water supply is contaminated and has the potential to cause a food safety incident. AQIS continues to recommend monthly testing.

This will depend on where you are sourcing the salt water from and what you are using it for. Water from the open ocean is unlikely to affect the safety of the fish you are catching, but water sourced from estuaries or harbour areas may contain substances and pollutants that could affect the safety of your product. The water quality of some in-shore areas may already be monitored under state shellfish sanitation control programs or by local council.

This will depend on how relevant the survey information is to the product that you are verifying—the NRS sampling would need to have been conducted on the same product sourced from the same area as you are sourcing your product.

The important issue is: Why did the fish die? If you know that it was not due to disease or poisoning and provided there were temperature controls and proper handling implemented they could remain eligible for export.

However if you do not know when or why they died, and disease or poisoning could be involved, then they must not be processed. The repercussions of having diseased fish detected by the importing country authority would be swift and devastating for all Australian exporters of fish products.

At this stage AQIS is negotiating with the individual state authorities regarding which agencies will be responsible for auditing and whether mutual audits will be possible. At this stage there has been no formal agreements made.

Schedule 2, Clause 18.1 details variations requiring notification and approval before implementation. There is no set time requirement in place for approval of variations to the Approved Arrangement. The length of time required will depend on the scale of the variation requested.

No, there is no official form—you will however need to notify your local AQIS officer in writing of any intended changes to the Approved Arrangement that may affect the safety of the product you are processing. For example, if you wish to change a cooking temperature or make major changes to your processing equipment.

Yes, the Establishment Number remains with the Establishment.

Yes, provided that the request is made in writing to the secretary (or your local authorised officer).

Yes, however product will still need to comply with the applicable state and domestic requirements.

Information on specific importing country requirements can generally be obtained by accessing the official trade websites of individual countries, or through your overseas trade partner who will have access to their local authority. Internet links to a number of importing country authorities have been included in the Product Standards—Guideline to Compliance with the Export Control (Fish and Fish Products) Orders 2005.

Schedule 10 of the Export Control (Fish and Fish Products) Orders 2005 provides details of the approval process for third party auditors seeking to audit on behalf of AQIS. Approval is through written application to the secretary.

No, AQIS will no longer be supplying pre-printed Transfer Certificates. Transfer information is no longer required to be on an official form, as it is the information that is provided to the consignee when products are despatched from an establishment that is important (refer to Clause 7 of Schedule 8 for details of the information that must be given to the consignee). Also see the Traceability—Guideline to Compliance with the Export Control (Fish and Fish Products) Orders 2005, on the web for a guide to what may be used.

Yes, shucking molluscs (including abalone) is a process that must be carried out by a registered establishment if the product is intended for export as food.