5 October 2022
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry supports Australia’s food and agriculture export businesses to get their products to overseas markets by certifying they meet importing countries’ requirements. We also maintain Australia’s enviable pest and disease status through world-class biosecurity controls.
We are currently undertaking an ambitious program of reforms to our export regulation and certification systems. We are moving more of our services online and updating/streamlining others. This will give businesses in the export supply chain greater operational flexibility and certainty; and means they will be able to get their export certification faster.
As part of systems uplift we are modernising our underlying platforms to improve the robustness, reliability and security of our digital services to minimise the risk of outages and the flow on impacts to export businesses. We are also building capability to rapidly deliver changes to digital services which will allow for swift implementation of new business features and system fixes when bugs arise.
We will also work with you and your industry to find better ways of meeting importing country requirements – for example, by recognising and adopting industry quality systems and standards, where they can provide the necessary assurance about export operations.
In the seafood export sector, we have appointed a Seafood Export Facilitator to:
- provide a single point of contact for new and existing stakeholders
- offer one-on-one assistance in navigating the registration process and understanding importing country requirements
- measure the industries priority needs and concerns which will inform the development of target resources
In the future you will be able to set up a dedicated online account for all your export transactions. You will be able to track your requests for certification or inspection and assessment of your goods and provide them for overseas buyers if required. Over time we will extend this account to include other valuable information for export businesses such as compliance and audit outcomes.
The department is also making specific improvements to benefit the seafood exports sector. In the coming months you can expect to see:
- preparation for a pilot of a risk-based regulatory tool with export registered fishing vessels and storage establishments
- easier registration and management of seafood export facilities
Please see the below graphic for more information on our reforms so far and what to expect in the future (please note that depending on your email settings, you may need to download pictures in this email. This can be done by selecting the ‘Click here to download pictures’ or ‘Display images’ prompt at the top of this email).
We’ve started becoming a smart, modern regulator that is digital first and data-led, shifting from being overseers and verifiers of processes to validators of export outcomes.
Want to know more?
- visit the department’s website where you can see the reform work underway for your industry sector;
- take a look at our new Export Service, where in the future you’ll be able to execute transactions with the department; and
- if you would like to be part of shaping our reform work, please sign up for user research. We would love to welcome you onboard as we test and deploy our products and services.
The information provided in this advice is current at the time of writing and is intended for use as guidance only and should not be taken as definitive or exhaustive. The Commonwealth endeavours to keep information current and accurate, however, it may be subject to change without notice. Exporters are encouraged to verify these details with their importers prior to undertaking production/exports. The Commonwealth will not accept liability for any loss resulting from reliance on information contained in this notice.
Further information
Contact exportstandards@agriculture.gov.au if you have any queries.
