10 July 2015
Purpose
To advise external Authorised Officers (AOs) that the Department of Agriculture is now accepting proposals from AOs to undertake vapour heat treatment (VHT) supervision for export of Australian mangoes to China.
Background
Requirements in the work plan and protocol for the export of Australian mangoes to China allows the Department of Agriculture to approve persons to undertake supervision of pre-export VHT. Persons approved by the department must already be an external AO, accredited for the inspection of mangoes.
Key Points
- Applicants must compile a document that details how the AO will meet the following conditions:
- All requirements for running and supervising VHT, as detailed in all treatment-relevant sections of the Work plan for Australian mango exports to the People’s Republic of China. The work plan can be found on the Manual of Importing Country Requirements (Micor) Plants website, in the Documents section. To access this document you must be registered with Micor Plants.
- All conditions detailed in the requirements for VHT as detailed in the Plant Export Operations standard for vapour heat treatment of fruit fly host products. The standard can be found in the Plant Export Operations Manual.
- Importing country requirements for VHT as detailed in the Protocol for phytosanitary requirements for the export of mango fruit from Australia to China between the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China, also available in the Documents section of Micor.
- How fruit movement through the VHT facility will be managed
- VHT record and supervision templates must also be submitted
- Completed documents must be sent to the Department of Agriculture by 23 July 2015. Documents may be emailed to: se_plantexportverification@aff.gov.au
- Once the VHT supervision document has been approved by the Department of Agriculture, the department will audit the AO against the processes in the document. Audits will take place as part of VHT facility audits for the China market. AOs will be notified of audit dates.
If you have any further enquiries, please email the Department of Agriculture at HorticultureExportsProgramACT@aff.gov.au
Peter Creaser
Assistant Secretary (A/g)
Plant Export Operations