All livestock consignments exported by sea must be held and prepared at a registered establishment (RE).
We must approve your establishment before you use it to prepare livestock for export. Your approval will outline what your establishment can hold, including:
- species, weights and quantities of livestock
- length of time and time of year you can hold livestock.
Livestock exported by air have different requirements linked to individual consignments. Find out about exporting a livestock consignment.
RE guidelines for the export of livestock by sea
These guidelines provide information on how to prepare an operations manual that meets our requirements.
We encourage the use of these guidelines for new registrations, or to renew or vary existing registrations.
Download
Registered establishment guidelines for the export of livestock by sea (PDF 0.7 MB)
Registered establishment guidelines for the export of livestock by sea (DOCX 2.2 MB)
If you have difficulty accessing these files, visit web accessibility for assistance.
Apply to register your establishment
If you are an occupier of a property, you can apply to register it as an export establishment. We only permit one person to be registered as the occupier of an establishment.
We will check that your property meets all regulatory requirements of our regulatory framework. You must meet all relevant requirements of the exporters approved arrangement (AA). You must also ensure that you are meeting all relevant state or territory government requirements.
Once approved, we can register your establishment for up to 5 years.
While registered, the operation of the establishment will have reporting requirements and audits.
Additional approvals may be required if you intend to prepare livestock for export to Indonesia. Contact us for more information.
You must prepare an operations manual that describes your business operations. This must include evidence of day-to-day control of the operations.
You must include:
- an outline of the business structure, such as an organisational chart
- features of the establishment, such as location and design
- operational activities, such as feed and water provisions
- daily monitoring requirements, such as management of rejected livestock
- additional requirements, such as loading arrangements, reporting and records management.
See our guidelines for information on what to include in your operations manual.
Include in your application:
- a completed Livestock Registered Establishments – new application, renewal, and variations form
- a copy of the completed operations manual
- any other supporting documents.
Email the application to livestockexp@aff.gov.au.
We will do an initial assessment of your application.
We will contact you either via phone or email you if we require more information.
Then, we refer the application to our regional veterinary officer. They will contact you to arrange an on-site inspection.
We assess applications in accordance with our client service standards. We will inform you of your application status if there are delays. See our service standards.
We will conduct an initial on-site inspection of your establishment.
This inspection will occur before the final application assessment and approval if appropriate.
The inspection is to check compliance with the:
- regulatory framework
- operations manual.
We will let you know the outcome of your application and on-site inspection.
We will send your certificate of registration to you if you meet all our requirements.
Your approval will inform you of what livestock you can hold and prepare. We will outline the species, weights, quantities of livestock, length of time and time of year in which the livestock can be held.
When we approve your registration, you can hold and prepare livestock for export by sea.
You can only hold and prepare livestock according to your certificate of registration.
Vary your registration
You must apply to have any variations to the registered establishment approved.
Reasons to apply for a variation may include:
- adding or removing kinds of export operations
- changes to the species or quantities of livestock held
- changes to the length of time or time of year you will hold livestock
- minor changes to the registration, for example correcting a technical or spelling error
- changes in management or control
- variation to the establishment such as alterations that may increase/decrease the pen space or water capacity
- variations of the operations manual.
See our guidelines for information on what to include in your operations manual.
Include in your application:
- a completed Livestock Registered Establishments – new application, renewal, and variations form
- your updated operations manual.
Email the application to livestockexp@aff.gov.au.
We will contact you either via phone or email you if we require more information.
We assess applications in accordance with our client service standards. We will inform you of your application status if there are delays. See our service standards.
Depending on the type of variation, we may require an inspection of the establishment by our regional veterinary officer.
We will let you know after we assess the variation.
Maintain your registered establishment
Registered establishments have reporting and auditing requirements. You must meet these requirements to maintain your establishments registration.
You must renew your registration no more than 180 days and no less than 120 days before the expiry date.
For example, if your registration expires on the 8 July, (other than in a leap year), you must submit your renewal application between 9 January and 10 March that year.
Complete the required sections of the Livestock Registered Establishments – new application, renewal, and variations form.
Email the application to livestockexp@aff.gov.au.
See our guidelines for information on what to include in your operations manual.
We assess applications in accordance with our client service standards. We will inform you of your application status if there are delays. See our service standards.
Registration ceases if:
- your registration expires
- your establishment changes ownership
- you cease to have day-to-day control of operations
- required under legislation, such as a suspension.
We audit registered establishments at least once a year. Audits may occur without notice. But we will usually consult you first.
The occupier of the registered establishment must attend the audit.
The audit ensures the establishment and its operations follow the:
- conditions of the registration
- legislation
- importing country requirements
- operations manual.
At the audit, an auditor may issue:
- an observation, indicating a minor issue and areas for improvement; or
- a corrective action request (CAR).
A CAR is an official request regarding an identified non-compliance.
Following the audit, we will complete an audit report. The report will include the audit outcome and details of any non-compliances.
We will give the report to the RE occupier. We also retain a copy.
For each consignment held at the establishment, you must submit a mortality report. We require this under ASEL.
You must provide this report to us within 5 days of the last animal from the consignment departing from the establishment.
You must use the LIVEXCollect forms provided on the LiveCorp website. You will need to create an account to access these forms.
Email the reports to livestockexp@aff.gov.au and livexcollect@livecorp.com.au.
Fees
There is a time-based fee for us to:
- assess your registered establishment application
- assess your registered establishment variations
- renew your registered establishment
- audit your registered establishment.
We also apply an annual fee to all registered establishments. We will charge this when we approve or renew your registration.
For more information see our charging guidelines.