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Data Assessment Service

On 1 March 2001 the ACVM Group split the internal processes used to register agricultural compounds and to license veterinary medicines into individual ‘services’:

• Data Assessment Service
• Review and Evaluation Service.

From now on, the data assessment of applications and the review and evaluation of applications submitted to the ACVM Group will be carried out by separate Technical Assessors.

Data Assessment Service

The Data Assessment Service is provided by the ACVM Group to applicants who wish to have their applications to register a pesticide or to license an animal remedy assessed by the Group. These applications are assessed by our Technical Assessors who produce a Risk Assessment Report for each application. This report summarises the risks associated with registering/licensing that particular product in New Zealand, and it is used in the review and evaluation of that product.

At this time only the ACVM Group is permitted to carry out data assessment of applications. However, the ACVM Group plans to facilitate the introduction of accredited independent data assessors (IDAs) during the forth-coming year. It is intended that these accredited IDAs will act as ‘consultants’ or ‘advisors’ to companies or other entities that wish an assessment of their application independent of the ACVM Group or to a timeline different to the ACVM Group.

Review and Evaluation Service

At Review and Evaluation, the data assessment report produced during the Data Assessment Service is reviewed, and the risks identified in the report are evaluated by a separate ACVM Group Technical Assessor. The Technical Assessor evaluates the application and may:

• accept the application;
• accept the application with certain conditions to ensure that the risks are managed; or
• decline the application.

The Review and Evaluation Service will remain within the ACVM Group.

This physical split in our internal processes is intended to help us develop an operational framework to facilitate the introduction of accredited IDAs.

Independent Risk Assessor (IRA) Scheme

To further facilitate the introduction of IDAs, the ACVM Group implemented Phase I of the Independent Risk Assessor (IRA) Scheme on 1 March 2001. This is a pilot scheme designed to test the feasibility of providing the overall Data Assessment Service and implementing a training scheme to allow the accreditation of IRAs. The principle objectives are:

• to select an initial group of assessors to become provisionally accredited IRAs;
• to design and initiate a training process that will instruct provisionally accredited IRAs in the process for carrying out a risk assessment on applications submitted for the registration/licensing of agricultural compounds/veterinary medicines;
• to provide provisionally accredited IRAs with the opportunity to carry out risk assessments on genuine applications at appropriate rates;
• to test the internal processes of the ACVM Group to allow us to move to Phase II of the scheme.

All provisionally accredited IRAs who pass through the training scheme and are believed to meet the ACVM Group selection criteria will be accredited as IDAs.

On 20 February the ACVM Group invited expressions of interest from potential IRAs who wished to partici-pate in Phase I of the scheme. Over thirty expressions of interest were received and, of these, a shortlist of six candidates was compiled.

It is intended that each of these candidates will be interviewed and that three people will be selected as provisionally accredited IRAs. It is intended to select a second, larger ‘wave’ of provisionally accredited IRAs on the completion of Phase I.

The ACVM Group’s main priority throughout this process is to ensure continuity and quality of core services over this evolutionary period.

Any queries or requests to be included in the Data Assessment Service Scheme mailing list should be directed to Brian O’Sullivan:
phone: 04 460 8765 or
email: osullivanb@maf.govt.nz