19 June 2018
Purpose
The purpose of this Industry Advice Notice (IAN) is to advise industry of the in-transit cold treatment (ITCT) certification requirements for citrus exports to Japan in 2018.
Summary and key points
Exporters, shipping companies and freight forwarders must consider the following when exporting ITCT citrus consignments to Japan:
- ITCT must start in Australia and finish prior to arrival in Japan.
- Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), Japan, will reject consignments that require the continuation of cold treatment in Japan.
- Authorised officers and exporters must be aware of shipment durations and ensure that the chosen treatment schedule will be completed prior to arrival in Japan.
- ITCT consignments with multiple time gaps or time gaps greater than four hours maybe rejected by MAFF.
- If there are any data issues that arise at any point, an explanation of the issue should be included when submitting the data to Plant Exports NDH.
- If more than one container is included on a phytosanitary certificate, it is preferable that the same cold treatment schedule applies to all containers listed to avoid delays during certification.
- For Japan ITCT consignments, the Request for Permit (RFP) must have the print indicator set to Manual (M), the print location as ME3 and treatment details must be left blank.
- Remote printing of certificates is not permitted and certificates will not be issued until the treatment details have been entered by an assessing officer into the RFP following assessment of data.
- Container seal numbers listed on RFPs and calibration certificates must be numerical only (do not include the letter “A” prefix for the bolt seal; only document the number).
- All date fields are in 24-hour time on calibration records and certificates.
Background
All citrus exports to Japan must comply with the standards stipulated in the agreements (protocol) between the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources and the MAFF, Japan.
Responsibilities
Exporters and shipping companies requesting certification for ITCT consignments of citrus fruit to Japan must meet the following documentation requirements:
- Documentation and data downloads must be sent to the Plant Exports NDH.
- Shipping lines must email a weekly ‘pre-alert / vessel summary report’ by COB Thursday to Plant Exports NDH. This summary report must include the estimated date of vessel arrival, container details and the approximate date of when the data downloads will be sent for assessment.
- Cold treatment data will be assessed on the same day if it is received by midday. Any data arriving after midday will be assessed the next business day.
- Emails must state in the subject line one of the following options:
Email Type | Required Email Subject Title |
|---|---|
Raw treatment data | ‘ITCT Japan – [Vessel name] – Completed CT containers’ |
Pre-alert / vessel summary report | ‘ITCT Japan – [Vessel name] – Vessel summary report’ |
Consignment issues | ‘ITCT Japan – [RFP number, Container number] – Consignment issue’ |
Calibration records | ‘ITCT Japan – [RFP number, Container number] – Calibration record’ |
Assessment Services Exports Plant (formerly Plant Exports NDH) is responsible for processing and endorsing treatment temperature data, emailing copies, posting originals of the phytosanitary certificate, calibration certificate and endorsed treatment temperature data to the Australian Embassy in Japan for presentation to MAFF.
Work plan and protocols
The work plan and protocols can be found in the Documents section on the Manual ofImporting Country Requirements (MICoR) Plants.
Contact information
For any inquiries regarding data assessment reports, please contact Assessment Services Group Exports Plant and include “ITCT Japan” in the subject line.
If you have any questions regarding this IAN, please email the Horticulture Exports Program.
David Ironside
Assistant Secretary
Plant Export Operations