Independent Employer of AAOs Accreditation Scheme

Accreditation is a formal, third party endorsement by a national accreditation body of an organisation’s competence, credibility, independence and integrity to perform specific activities. It provides a means to identify a proven, competent evaluator so that the selection of a particular organisation is an informed choice. National accreditation means the organisation can demonstrate to its customer that it has been successful at meeting the requirements of international accreditation standards.

Using the accredited route has the advantage of a single transparent and repeatable approach. Over time this should improve consistency, resulting in better risk management. It provides an alternative means of ensuring the reliability of activities that have the potential to impact on public confidence or the national reputation.

Accreditation by national accreditation bodies such as JAS-ANZ and NATA in Australia means that these evaluating organisations have been assessed against internationally recognised standards to demonstrate their competence, impartiality and performance capability.

Is a scheme developed by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to provide for the employment of Australian Government Authorised Officers (AAOs) by independent employment providers. Under the scheme, agencies will supply AAOs to Australian export slaughter establishments to meet EU standards.

The scheme applies to inspectors undertaking on line post mortem inspection on EU plants. The scheme will be certified against ISO/IEC 17020:2012, by engaging Australian registered national accreditation bodies to evaluate independent employers of AAOs as a means of increasing overseas competent authority confidence.

For the EU market, AAOs must be employed by an independent AAO employer approved by the department to supply AAOs.

Document links

• Fact sheet - Independent AAO Employer
• Fact sheet - Abattoir Owner or Operator
• Fact sheet - AAO
• Information about the Australian Government Authorised Officer application process
• Authorisation and use of third party authorised officers
• Independent Employer of AAOs Accreditation Scheme (Export Meat and Meat Products)
• Australian Export Meat Inspection System Information Package
• Application to change details of an AAO

Training material

• Department Instructional Material and performance standards (password protected)*

*materials and standards are available on a password protected site to conditionally approved and approved independent AAO employers, national accreditation bodies and MINTRAC.

To assist you locating information on certain requirements, the following table identifies requirements against each of the relevant documents referenced (marked with an ‘✗’) above.

To view the scope of approval of an organisation that has applied to be approved as an Independent AAO Employer, click on the Notice of Determination tab for that company.

Only organisations with a type A accreditation against ISO/IEC 17020:2012 will be considered by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to provide a resource pool of AAOs to export registered abattoirs which have EU listing (i.e. the organisation shall meet the criteria of ISO/IEC 17020:2012 annex A.1 (normative). Users should contact the organisation for specific details of the accredited scope.

If 'suspended' is shown against an organisation's name, please refer to that organisation for further details.

Accessible versions of some documents are pending, in the interim please email aao@aff.gov.au for assistance.