- Print Friendly - Help

New Zealand/EU Vet Agreement signed off

The long awaited New Zealand/EU Veterinary Agreement has finally been signed off.

The agreement, which had only been provisionally applied since January 1997, became official on 1 February 2003 following an exchange of notes by the two parties.

The agreement means that for a vast array of animal products the EU accepts New Zealand's food safety requirements and animal health assurances for animal products as being equal to their own.

The disease status of the EU and New Zealand are very different and the issues of concern vary. These variations can now be taken into account. The breakthrough came after six years of hard work by NZFSA, MAF, MFAT and other organisations.

"This Agreement cements in place benefits already being enjoyed by New Zealand and puts our exports to Europe on a much firmer footing," NZFSA executive director Andrew McKenzie says.

Those benefits include a reduction in frontier checks and fees which has, of course, been of significant benefit to New Zealand exporters over the past six years.

The agreement also allows for regionalisation. Because of New Zealand's unique geography it is possible to isolate areas should a disease outbreak occur, and continue to export from other areas.

"The Europeans are fastidious when it comes to hygiene requirements so the recognition of New Zealand's systems as equal to their own is a huge achievement and has lots of potential," Dr McKenzie says.

Europe is New Zealand's largest market for agricultural exports. Exports to the EU of sheepmeat earned New Zealand over NZ$1.4 billion in the year to June 2002, while dairy exports earned this country NZ$725 million.

The agreement will also reduce regulatory duplication. It sets up a proper protocol for each party to audit the other allowing for more effective dispute resolution. New and existing requirements of each party to the agreement are subject to a consultation process. A Joint Management Committee has been established to cover all aspects of the Agreement.