The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry received initial allegations from Animals Australia on the evening of Sunday 28 May 2023 of non-compliance with the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) for sheep in Oman. Further details and supporting evidence have been provided by Animals Australia on several occasions in May and June 2023.
Animals Australia alleges that live Australian sheep are available for sale and slaughter at multiple locations in Oman outside of approved ESCAS facilities.
The department has provided the details of the allegations to relevant livestock exporters to provide them with opportunity to investigate and rectify any non-compliance with their ESCAS arrangements.
The department is taking these allegations seriously and has commenced its investigation.
This investigation will take some time. To mitigate the risk of further non-compliance the department has already taken regulatory action requiring exporters to implement stronger control arrangements, extra surveillance and additional reporting.
Exporters commit to having arrangements in their supply chain to ensure compliance with Australia’s ESCAS requirements. Where evidence demonstrates exporter supply chain arrangements have not met ESCAS requirements, the department will impose additional conditions. These can range from extra surveillance and reporting, removing facilities from supply chains right through to loss of an exporter’s licence.
The Australian Government is committed to ensuring that exported animals are treated as humanely as possible. Australia is the only country, out of over 100 livestock exporting nations, that requires specific animal welfare conditions for exported feeder and slaughter livestock once they arrive in the importing country.
ESCAS provides assurance that these animal welfare conditions are met and its introduction by the Australian Government was the most significant regulatory reform the live export industry has ever seen.
ESCAS – as a regulatory system – requires exporters to have arrangements with supply chain partners (i.e., importers, transport, feedlots, abattoirs) in importing countries to provide for the control, traceability and animal welfare of feeder and slaughter livestock from arrival through to point of slaughter. When incidents do occur, ESCAS provides a framework for the department to investigate and address non-compliances with exporters and to take regulatory action where appropriate.
