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Official Assurances Programme

2 Preliminary Provisions

Version 6

June 2006

2.1 Application

2.1.1 This programme consolidates specifications, overseas market requirements and directions that apply to official assurances issued under Part 5 of the Act in relation to animal material and products produced under the Meat Act regime, the Apiaries Act regime, Parts 2, 3 and 4 of the Act and animal material and product produced in export approved premises.

2.1.2 Subclause 2.1.1 does not apply to official assurances issued for dairy products, live animals (being any live mammals or birds or any other animal not being exported as food), or germplasm of animals.

2.2 Introduction

This Programme describes the procedures that must be followed in order to receive an official assurance to accompany exported animal material or animal products within the scope of which is described in clause 2.1.

NZFSA policy and the Act aim to facilitate trade in animal material and animal products. For any trade, nationally or internationally, the animal material or animal product must have first met all applicable New Zealand requirements.

Some importing governments require official assurances for animal materials or products, to provide confidence that certain requirements have been met (e.g. country of origin). These assurances are provided by the NZFSA.

The claims made on official assurances must be substantiated in order to maintain the integrity of New Zealand as a trading partner and NZFSA’s reputation as a competent authority. This is achieved through systems allowing information relating to the assurances to be independently verified and for the product status and country eligibility to be transferred between establishments.

Therefore where animal material or animal product is exported with an official assurance, the animal material or animal product business involved must be a part of this system. For the majority of these businesses, a risk management programme is required to be a part of this system. This enables the resulting animal material or animal product to be eligible for an official assurance.

Where establishments are not part of this system, the NZFSA is unlikely to be in a position to issue an official assurance.

The exporter must be aware that an official assurance is not a guarantee of entry for those goods to that market;

The Animal Products Act section 61 (3) of the Act states:

“An official assurance is not a guarantee that the contents of all or any particular consignment of animal material or products to which it relates –

a. necessarily meet the commercial requirements of the importer; or

b. are fit for consumption or use no matter what the status or description of the consumer or user, or what has happened to the consignment or what has been its treatment since it left New Zealand; or

c. are fit for consumption or use for a purpose other than that for which they were intended.”

The official assurance may be interpreted or applied differently at different entry points of the country concerned or even by different officials at the same entry point. This is largely due to the level of knowledge of the legislation and interpretation of import requirements between border inspectors. This is outside of NZFSA control, though the NZFSA will intervene in an attempt to have consignments cleared, where this is appropriate.

2.3 Interpretation

In this Programme, unless the context otherwise requires,

the Act means the Animal Products Act 1999 unless otherwise stated

animal fibre includes feathers and hair grown on the skin of an animal such as fur and wool

approved supplier means a person approved under section 158 of the Act to print and supply export certificate forms and includes Techniche (previously Prologix)

authorised person means a person designated by the Director-General under section 65 of the Act as an authorised person for the purpose of issuing official assurances and for withdrawing and reissuing official assurances under section 64 of the Act

authorised user means a person that has met specified competency criteria and has been given E-cert access to enable the raising of eligibility declarations for a premises

beekeeper (or apiarist) means the operator who harvests bee material or products produced by bees, and includes any associated storage or transport of the harvested animal material or products prior to secondary processing, such as extraction

compliance database means a record of the ongoing compliance status of premises held by the recognised agency with the responsibility for verifying the premises

country eligibility when applied to an identified lot of animal material or product means that all export requirements appropriate to the intended country(ies) of export, have been met; and eligibility status has a corresponding meaning

E-cert means the electronic programme provided by the Director-General for the processing of eligibility declarations, eligibility documents and electronic export certificates, and includes the NZFSA E-cert help file in that electronic programme

eligibility declaration means a document raised by an operator that confirms the eligibility for export of any fish material or fish product that requires an official assurance

eligibility document (ED) means a document raised by an operator and issued by an official assurance verifier, which confirms the eligibility for export of any animal material or product that requires an official assurance

exhaust means an action taken by an authorised person, official assurance verifier or operator, on a transfer document, to indicate that the product or product item is no longer represented by that transfer document

export approved premises means those premises approved under the Animal Products (Export Approved Premises) Notice 2006, and any premises processing animal material or product not for human or animal consumption that is covered within the scope of a registered risk management programme

export certificate is the form of an official assurance determined by the Director-General pursuant to section 62 of the Act

export certificate set means the original export certificate form plus the appropriate number of copies; and certificate set has a corresponding meaning

export requirement means a requirement specified under section 60 of the Act and notified or made available under section 60A and where appropriate, any exemption issued in accordance with section 60B. Export requirements include overseas market access requirements

form identifier is the identifier that differentiates one certificate type from other certificate types

germplasm includes embryos, semen and ova

in-clear in relation to any date, means the day is stated in numbers (unless the requirement allows for the day to be omitted), the month is stated as a word either in full or abbreviation, and the year is stated in numbers, e.g. 23 Sept 00; except where only the month and year is required, in which case numbers may be used

inventory control is a system whereby the operator is able to satisfactorily demonstrate the identity, traceability and eligibility of animal material or animal product through their records

import certificate means the official sanitary certificate associated with the animal material or product and issued by the government of the country from which New Zealand has imported the animal material or product

imported animal material or product means animal material or product imported into New Zealand and includes New Zealand animal material or product that is mixed with animal material or product imported into New Zealand

issued in relation to paper documents, means signed by an authorised person, official assurance verifier or in the case of E-cert documents means, approved by an official assurance verifier or authorised person; and issue has a corresponding meaning

licensed means licensed or approved under the Meat Act 1981 or any regulations made under that Act; and licensee has a corresponding meaning

MAF means the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of New Zealand

mobile operation means a land based premises that is able to be transported to another physical location

NZFSA means the New Zealand Food Safety Authority

NZFSA signatory seal or signatory seal means the unique stamp issued by the Verification Agency to authorised persons and official assurance verifiers employed by the NZFSA

NZFSA website refers to www.nzfsa.govt.nz

official assurance verifier (OA verifier) means a person recognised under section 103 of the Act to undertake official assurance verification and includes an animal product officer employed by the Verification Agency; and verifier has a corresponding meaning

official assurance verification means the functions and activities of confirming compliance with any New Zealand standard and export requirements which apply to the animal material or animal product concerned

operator in addition to the definitions in the Act, includes the licensee of premises licensed under the Meat Act regime and the person in charge of export approved premises, or his or her manager or agent

overseas market access requirements (OMAR) means an export requirement specific to an identified overseas market or markets

premises means the place where an animal product business is operated

preprinted export certificate form means a paper export certificate that is preprinted and obtained from an approved supplier, as opposed to being printed on to security paper from the E-cert electronic database

print-run number means the number printed in the bottom left hand corner of each preprinted export certificate form

raise in relation to the E-cert system, means to complete and submit an eligibility document, eligibility declaration or an export health certificate in accordance with the E-cert help file

recognised agency in relation to any function or activity means a person or body recognised by the Director-General under section 103 of the Act for the purpose of performing that function or activity

recognised person means a person recognised or accredited by the Director-General under section 103 of the Act to perform specialist functions and activities

security paper is sensodised watermark security paper fully sensitised to CBS1 requirements and includes covert and overt UV flecks. The true watermark, owned by the maker, is applied during manufacture. The front side of each sheet has a disruptive wavy background with the words ‘New Zealand SPS Certificate’/ The reverse side of each sheet has a unique 8-digit variable number

shoulder number means the unique number of the eligibility document, eligibility declaration or export certificate allocated by E-cert when a document is raised, or applied at or before signature of a paper document

signing office or signing location means the place at which an authorised person issues export certificates

specifications means any specification issued by notice by the Director-General under the Act, including export requirements

transfer document means any form of document under this Programme that is able to support the issuing of an export certificate, or the preparation and, where applicable, issuing of another transfer document and includes an eligibility document, eligibility declaration, and exporter and operator declarations

unprocessed means not having been subject to any form of primary processing, as defined in the Act and the Animal Products (Definition of Primary Processor) Notice 2000

Verification Agency (VA) refers to the NZFSA, Verification Agency

Verification Agency team leader means any person appointed to the designation of team leader in the Verification Agency

vessel means a fishing vessel including those registered as limited processing fishing vessels under the Animal Products (Regulated Control Scheme – Limited Processing Fishing Vessels) Regulations 2001, vessels operating a registered risk management programme under the Act, and other fishing vessels registered under the Fisheries Act 1996

voided in relation to a box in an export certificate, means ruled off after the last entry and a diagonal line added, or the box otherwise filled so as to prevent the unauthorised addition of information after signing

Any term or expression that is defined in the Animal Products Act 1999, Animal Products (Ancillary and Transitional Provisions) Act 1999, or regulations made under those Acts and used but not defined, in this Programme has the same meaning as in those Acts or regulations.