The department is offering a Seafood Exporter Facilitator (SEF) service to the seafood industry as part of the Seafood Export Reform Program.
The Seafood Export Facilitator will provide support to existing export registered establishments as well as potential exporters that are seeking to become export registered.
What support is provided by the export facilitator?
The SEF will be a central point of contact for stakeholders to discuss export issues and will be available via email, phone, video call, or face-to-face meetings where possible.
What support is available to new export establishments?
The approval process to become export registered can seem complicated and time-consuming. Many new applicants enter the process without a complete understanding of the requirements that they need to meet to become registered with the department and are often surprised to find that they are not as prepared as they thought they were.
The SEF can provide support by assisting new applicants to understand:
- the process to become export registered and what you are required to do, including the application process
- what you are required to document in an approved arrangement
- any technical components that will be reviewed at audit (such as the details of a HACCP plan, and structural, hygiene and storage requirements)
- the types and level of information you are required to have documented
- any importing country requirements that you may need to consider.
What do I need to do before applying for registration?
If you are considering applying to become export registered, we strongly encourage you to make use of this free service to help streamline your experience. We recommend that you contact the export facilitator before submitting a registration application (EX26a) so that:
- The export facilitator can advise if export registration is required for your operations, and what documentation you will need to prepare and submit as part of your application.
- You are aware of the application costs – see our charging guidelines for current application charges to register a fish establishment.
- You understand the consideration period – the department will process your application within 120 days of receival, provided that you have supplied all the required information.
By talking to the export facilitator before applying, you can avoid unnecessary charges, surprises or delays to your application’s progression.
What are the services outside of the scope?
The export facilitator cannot assess components of your approved arrangement or advise if they will be compliant at audit. You will need to work with your auditor for this part of the process.
What is the support available to existing registered establishments?
The SEF can also assist existing export registered establishments and exporters that are looking to enter new markets to understand importing country requirements and how best to navigate the complex process of country listings.
The SEF can also provide guidance to existing export registered establishments on:
- legislative requirements
- adding new products and or export operations
- adding new country listings and how export listing for importing countries works
- the process to make variations to your registration or approved arrangement and when this is required
Getting started
Contact us at seafoodexportsupport@agriculture.gov.au or call us on 0466 350 180 so we can help you get started.
When you first contact the seafood export facilitator, we may ask you to complete an initial questionnaire to understand your needs and the assistance we can provide. We will then continue to engage with you at various steps of the process to provide additional assistance as required. Finally, at the end of the process we will seek your feedback on the service so that we can understand how we helped and where we can improve.
What is next?
The Seafood Export Reform Program will conduct various surveys to collect data and to identify gaps in the regulatory knowledge within the seafood export sector so we can continue to streamline our processes and develop targeted resources for the seafood industry based on your feedback.
Your feedback is important to us!