8 October 2015
Purpose
To advise industry and Authorised Officers (AOs) of new instructional material for the issuance of export certification that is now accessible on the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources website. The instructional material will provide national consistency and information for clients to ensure all documentation provided for issuance of certification is acceptable to the department.
Overview
Plant Export Operations has developed new instructional material to ensure consistent policy, process and procedures for plant export documentation and certification processes. AOs will notice that guidelines and work instructions are now in the Practice Statement Framework (PSF) templates, to comply with Department of Agriculture and Water Resources requirements.
Summary of changes and key points
1. This instructional material will come into effect from Monday 2 November 2015. A transition period will be in place until Monday 1 February 2016. During the transition period, supporting documents submitted by clients will continue to be assessed as per the current process. All supporting documents submitted after Monday 1 February 2016 must conform to the requirements in the instructional material.
2. Summary of changes:
- An RFP at initial (INIT) or final (FINL) status is required before inspection can commence.
- Consignments that require an Import Permit and will be inspected by a departmental AO will have the Import Permit validated at the time the appointment is requested.
- A checklist has been created to inform clients and AOs when documents are to be provided during the export process.
3. This instructional material will provide a consistent service nationally for all exporters. Other work instructions have been written for departmental appointment AOs to facilitate efficient internal work processes. They are designed to ensure that any documents provided to the department at the time an inspection is booked are validated, so that when a departmental inspection AO arrives at an establishment the inspection is not delayed due to documentation issues.
4. The table below lists the new instructional material. Instructional material is available in the Plant Export Operations Manual (PEOM) or by clicking on the links in the table below.
| Instructional Material | Location in PEOM | Audience |
|---|---|---|
Guideline: Issuance of certification for plant exports  PDF [221 KB] |
Under ‘Documentation’ heading | Clients, external inspection AOs, departmental appointment, inspection and documentation AOs |
| Reference: PEOB documents and treatments checklists | Under ‘Documentation’ heading | Clients, external inspection AOs, departmental appointment, documentation and inspection AOs |
| Work Instruction: Validating supporting documents for plant exports | Under ‘Documentation’ heading | Clients, external inspection AOs, departmental appointment, documentation and inspection AOs |
| Reference: Table of inspection job functions required for each group of plants and plant products for export | Under ‘Product inspection’ heading | Clients, external inspection AOs, departmental appointment, documentation and inspection AOs |
5. The following Inspection AO work instructions (available in the Plant Export Operations Manual (PEOM) under the ‘Product Inspection’ or ‘Transport unit’ headings) have been updated to reflect the introduction of the new instructional material. These work instructions will come into effect on Monday 2 November 2015.
- Work instruction: Sampling and inspection for export certification of dried fruit v2.0
- Work instruction: Sampling and inspection for export certification of completed consignments and lots (fresh fruit and vegetables) v2.0
- Work instruction: In-line sampling and phytosanitary inspection procedures for export certification of prescribed goods (fresh fruit and vegetable) v2.0
- Work instruction: Sampling and inspection for export certification of nursery stock, cut flowers and cut foliage v2.0
- Work instruction: Inspection of forest products v3.0
- Work instruction: Inspection of hay and straw v5.0
- Work instruction: Inspection of prescribed grain and plant products v4.0
- Work instruction: Inspection of raw baled cotton v3.0
- Work instruction: Inspection of empty containers v4.0
- Work instruction: Inspection of empty bulk vessels v3.0
Client Responsibilities
Clients should familiarise themselves with the guideline and work instruction and:
- prepare for the export of plants and plant products in accordance with the Guideline: Issuance of certification for plant exports
- provide valid supporting documents at the required time in the export process.
Authorised Officer Responsibilities
Inspection AOs are to:
- ensure they receive all required supporting documents at time of inspection
- validate all supporting documents provided at time of inspection.
Contact Information
If you have any questions regarding this IAN please email: Plant Export Training.
Dr Chris Parker
Assistant Secretary
Plant Export Operations Branch