2016-45 - Horticulture Exports Program – Onshore cold treatment of horticulture exports to China and Thailand

11 July 2016

Purpose

To advise industry of the key requirements for onshore cold treatment of horticulture exports to China and Thailand.

An onshore cold treatment facility can only be approved by the department for export to China or Thailand if it is a registered establishment, all protocol requirements have been met, all information requested has been provided, and the facility has passed a departmental audit. For Thailand, facilities must also be approved by the Thailand Department of Agriculture (DOA).
Fruit must pass inspection prior to the commencement of onshore cold treatment.
A job function for onshore cold treatment has not been released for external Authorised Officers (AO) and therefore, a departmental AO must supervise the commencement and completion of all onshore cold treatments of horticulture exports to China and Thailand.
Fruit for export to China and Thailand may be treated concurrently as long as the more stringent cold treatment schedule is applied and the treatment facility and room are approved for both countries.
The security of treated fruit must be maintained during post-treatment storage, transport and loading.
Treated fruit cannot be stored with any other fruit.
Treated fruit must be exported within 28 days of inspection or it will require reinspection.
Further information on onshore cold treatment requirements for exports to China and Thailand can be obtained from the relevant work plans and protocols on the MICoR website.

Protocols permit the onshore cold treatment of cherries, citrus, nectarines and table grapes for export to China.
Previously, all onshore cold treatments required joint supervision and approval by China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) and the department. However, the joint supervision requirement has been removed by AQSIQ who now only requires the department to supervise and approve onshore cold treatments for exports to China.
Export consignments that have been treated by onshore cold treatment must be accompanied by an onshore cold treatment calibration and re-calibration certificate and a cold treatment temperature record that have been endorsed by the department.
For the phytosanitary certificate:

The name and number of the registered establishment where onshore cold treatment was conducted must be entered in the ‘Lot number’ field (a free text field) of the EXDOC Request For Permit (RFP) and be in the example format of: ONSHORE COLD TREATMENT AT REGISTERED ESTABLISHMENT NAME / NUMBER. For example, ONSHORE COLD TREATMENT AT ABC FREIGHT / 9999.
Details of the treatment temperature and period (no. of consecutive days) are to be entered in the ‘Disinfestation and/or Disinfection Treatment’ section.

Applications for onshore cold treatment facilities for export to China will continue to be managed as part of the export application process for individual commodities.

Protocols permit the onshore cold treatment of apples, avocadoes, cherries, citrus, kiwifruit, nectarines, peaches, pears, persimmons, plums and table grapes for export to Thailand.
Thailand DOA have requested that for the first commercial export consignment from each room each calendar year, a Thailand onshore cold treatment calibration and re-calibration certificate and treatment temperature record must accompany the phytosanitary certificate.
For the phytosanitary certificate:

The name and number of the registered establishment and room number where onshore cold treatment was conducted must be entered in the ‘Lot number’ field (a free text field) of the EXDOC Request For Permit (RFP) and be in the example format of: ONSHORE COLD TREATMENT AT REGISTERED ESTABLISHMENT NAME / REGISTERED ESTABLISHMENT NUMBER–TREATMENT ROOM NUMBER. For example, ONSHORE COLD TREATMENT AT ABC FREIGHT / 9999-1.
Details of the treatment temperature and period (no. of consecutive days) are to be entered in the ‘Disinfestation and/or Disinfection Treatment’ section.

Thailand DOA requires the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources to audit and approve all cold treatment rooms for the purpose of annual renewal. These audits are planned for September/October and will require rooms to be empty for the purpose of temperature sensor calibrations and the running of a 24 hour test.
The department plans to request Thailand DOA to conduct an audit of prospective onshore cold treatment facilities later this year. The department will advertise the application process via an Industry Advice Notice.

The department strongly recommends clients utilise EXDOC’s Certificate Request “C” functionality for the export of onshore cold treated horticulture exports to China and Thailand.
EXDOC Certificate Request functionality enables the commodity listed in the Request for Permit (RFP), which has been inspected and treated for export, to be either assigned to multiple phytosanitary certificates or combined with commodity from other RFPs into a single phytosanitary certificate.
There are specific rules that need to be adhered to when using Certificate Request functionality including ensuring the destination country and exporter are the same for all RFPs.
Departmental costs to the client can be reduced through the application of Certificate Request functionality for onshore cold treatments, particularly if multiple certificates are produced from a single RFP.
Clients can also benefit from time and cost efficiencies by using Certificate Request functionality as fewer RFPs will need to be authorised by the department.
If you wish to receive further information or complete training in EXDOC Certificate Request functionality please email EXDOC Plant Programs.

If you have any questions regarding this IAN please email the Horticulture Exports Program ACT.