How to import frozen dog semen to Australia from New Zealand

This step-by-step guide is for frozen dog (Canis lupus familiaris) semen exported from New Zealand to Australia only.

To be eligible for import to Australia, the dog semen must meet standard import conditions. Standard import conditions can be found on our Biosecurity Import Conditions system (BICON) Search for ‘dog semen’ and select New Zealand as the country of export.

If the standard import conditions cannot be met, you may apply for an import permit through the BICON system. An application for an import permit does not guarantee that a permit will be granted.

There are fees and charges associated with the application for an import permit for non-standard goods.

We recommend you read this whole guide before you start the import process.

This guide details the actions you must take to meet Australia’s import conditions. You must meet all these conditions before you send dog semen to Australia.

You can share it with your listed veterinary practice veterinarian and your pet transport company. They will help you meet all requirements.

All veterinary procedures, testing, certification and semen collection must be done:

• by a veterinary practice veterinarian and laboratory listed by the NZ MPI
• while your donor dog resides in New Zealand
• before you send the semen to Australia.

This process ensures the semen does not bring diseases to Australia.

When you talk to the NZ MPI, they will let you know:

• any local procedures or requirements you must meet
• which veterinary practices and laboratories are listed to prepare your donor dog semen for export

All veterinary preparations must be done:

• by a private veterinarian employed by a NZ MPI listed veterinary practice
• in New Zealand.

Find a listed veterinary practice (NZ MPI website).

We recommend you share this step-by-step guide with your preparing veterinarian.

The veterinarian will help prepare a schedule of treatments and tests to ensure you meet all import conditions. This information is also useful to share with pet transport companies.

Microchips are the only approved identification method.

The donor dog must be implanted with a microchip that is ISO compliant. Generally, microchips with 10 or 15 digits are ISO compliant.

Microchip numbers starting with 999 are not accepted because they are not unique.

A private veterinarian from a NZ MPI listed veterinary practice must scan the microchip:

• at each visit
• before semen collection.

They will check that the scanned number is recorded on all semen straws or cryovials and documentation. This is how we match the semen to the donor dog, and all certified preparations and documentation.

If your dog has 2 microchips

Both microchips must be scanned at each veterinary visit.

Both microchip numbers must be included on semen straws, cryovials and laboratory reports.

If your dog has a compliant and a non-compliant microchip, ensure your veterinarian only records the compliant one.

If your dog’s microchip stops working

The veterinarian should try multiple microchip scanners to read the microchip. An X-ray can be used to locate the microchip if it has moved from the implant site.

If the microchip cannot be located, a new microchip must be inserted to continue with the import process. Once a new, functional microchip has been inserted, the preparation process must start again.

Donor dogs must be examined on each day of semen collections by a NZ MPI listed veterinary practice veterinarian. The dog must be found healthy and free of infectious, contagious, or venereal diseases.

There are no time-restrictions between the first and last semen collection, and no limit of the number of collected in between.

The semen must be frozen and processed in either straw or pellet form and stored in a cryovial.

Each straw or pellet must be clearly labelled with the following

• Donor dog’s microchip number
• Donor dog’s breed
• Date of semen collection.

Labels must be permanent, and writing must not be easily smudged or wiped off. Straws or pellets which arrive with illegible, smudged or non-permanent labelling may result in the semen being sent back or destroyed at your own cost.

From the time of collection, the dog semen must be stored in transport containers that:

• contain no other biological material other than canine semen of equivalent health status
• are filled with new liquid nitrogen only
• are new or have been emptied, with any loose straws or cryovials removed
• are disinfected with 2% available chlorine or Virkon at the manufacturer’s recommended rate or irradiated at 50Kgray.

If pellets are used, the cryovials must be suitable for maintaining the products integrity during storage and transport.

A NZ MPI approved listed veterinary practice veterinarian must scan and verify your dog’s microchip before collecting and testing a blood sample from the donor dog for Leishmania infantum (Leishmaniasis).

The blood must be collected between 30-45 days after the last collection of semen using one of these methods:

• an indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT), or
• an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

The sample must be tested by an NZ MPI Animal Health Laboratory. The test must produce a negative result.

The donor dog must remain in NZ from the sampling date until the date the semen is exported to Australia.

An NZ MPI listed veterinary practice veterinarian must complete, sign and stamp the approved veterinary certificate.

You must give evidence to the NZ MPI approved listed veterinary practice veterinarian that the donor dog has lived in New Zealand since birth, or since imported from Australia.

Our biosecurity officers will check the veterinary certificate on arrival in Australia. This is how we make sure the dog semen meets all health requirements.

A separate veterinary certificate must be completed for each donor dog.

Email the regional office in the state or territory where your consignment will first arrive in Australia.

Your email must include:

• the date and estimated time of arrival
• the flight number
• the air waybill number
• a contact phone number in Australia

Live animal imports office contacts in Australia

• New South Wales – ceranimalimports@aff.gov.au 
• Victoria – seanimal@aff.gov.au AND VIC.Controller@aff.gov.au 
• Queensland – qldliveanimalimports@aff.gov.au 
• South Australia – cargosa@aff.gov.au 
• Western Australia – waliveanimalimports@aff.gov.au 
• Tasmania – tas.controller@aff.gov.au 
• Northern Territory – ntliveanimalimports@aff.gov.au AND ntcontroller@aff.gov.au 
• Australian Capital Territory – actregoffice@aff.gov.au 

Following the Australian Border Force process for importing goods to Australia, ensure the package is directed to you as the owner, or your agent, under the care of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

Ensure all documentation has either been electronically sent to us or is attached to the package.

On arrival, the consignment will be subject to biosecurity control. You must wait until you receive further formal directions from the department to specify what will happen with your goods.

A biosecurity officer will review your documentation and inspect your goods to ensure it meets the import conditions. Either you or your agent must book an inspection. You or your agent and be present at the inspection as you will be responsible for handling the goods. If we need to keep it longer, you or your agent will need to refill containers with liquid nitrogen.

Once it has been determined that your goods comply with the import conditions, they will be released from biosecurity control. If the goods do not comply, or we require further information, we may ask for more documentation, or you may need to organise to have the goods re-exported or destroyed.