10 June 2016
Species: All Livestock
Country: All
Relevant to:
- Livestock Exporters
- Australian Government Accredited Veterinarians (AAV)
- LiveCorp
- Registered Premises Operators
- Department Regional Managers
- Department Officers
Purpose
To provide advice to livestock exporters, Australian Government Accredited Veterinarians (AAVs), registered premises operators and departmental officers on managing livestock rejects.
Key points
This EAN replaces EAN 2016/16 – Managing livestock rejects in accordance with ASEL.
It is the responsibility of livestock exporters to have effective systems in place to ensure consignments of export livestock are compliant with both the relevant importing country requirements and the Australian Standards for the Export of Livestock (ASEL).
Removal of rejects prior to inspection
Before a consignment is presented for inspection by the department’s authorised officer, an exporter:
- must have had the consignment inspected by an AAV.
- must have removed all livestock ineligible for export on the grounds of blood or fecal test results. These livestock present a high risk to maintaining market access as well as to the welfare of all animals in the consignment and must not be exported.
- should have removed livestock which do not meet ASEL or importing country requirements (for reasons other than test results). The department acknowledges there can be circumstances where removing these livestock from a consignment prior to inspection may not result in the best animal welfare outcome. In these cases the exporters must provide the authorised officer with a written plan for managing rejected livestock at the time of inspection. The plan must clearly identify the rejected animals, their location, reason for rejection and when they will be removed from the consignment. The inclusion of tag numbers to identify animals where possible is encouraged. There is no template for the plan, an example is attached for reference.
Rejected Livestock
Animals identified by the authorised officer at inspection as ineligible for export must be removed from the consignment before it is loaded onto trucks. These livestock cannot be exported as part of that consignment and cannot be reassessed by an AAV and included back into that consignment at a later stage.
Ineligible livestock can be included in future consignments if, at the time of the future consignment, they meet importing country requirements, ASEL and are fit to travel.
It is up to each exporter to implement an effective identification system for rejected livestock which is suitable for their business.
Exporters should keep records of actions taken to remove any rejected livestock from the consignment. Exporters should ensure that any animals rejected from the consignment have been removed from final tag lists provided to the Department. This will prevent possible delays to export permits and health certificates being issued.
This EAN does not prevent AAVs or exporters from removing any additional animal/s from a consignment if, following an inspection by the department’s authorised officer, they are not considered as fit for export.
Authorised officers may take photos of animals that are ineligible for export for the purposes of identification, information sharing and/or record keeping.
Background
There are a number of requirements relating to the management of rejects in the ASEL, including:
- Standard S1.7 of Standard 1 – Sourcing and on farm preparation of livestock
- Standard S2.11 of Standard 2 – Land transport of livestock
- Standard S3.17 of Standard 3 – Management of livestock in registered premises
- Appendix 3.1 of Standard 3 – Management of livestock in registered premises
- Standard S4.8 of Standard 4 – Vessel preparation and loading
- Standard S6.4 of Standard 6 – Air transport of livestock
Approved by – Trysh Stone, Live Animal Export Branch
Contact officer: Trysh Stone
Phone: 02 6272 4581
Email: Livestock Export