Standard for General Transitional Facilities for Uncleared Goods (TF Gen)
The New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) issues this standard in accordance with Section 39 of the Biosecurity Act (1993).
This Standard first became effective as at 1 February 2009. It was amended and re-issued on 1 September 2011 and has now been revised as at March 2013 following feedback 
(28 KB) from stakeholders effective from 1st July 2013.
The standard is divided into two documents, namely:
- The Standard which outlines basic minimum requirements for facilities to follow. PDF
(5884 KB). - The Guidance Document which contains information on how to meet the requirements of the Standard to an acceptable level. Facilities may either choose to follow examples provided in the guidance document or develop their own systems of equivalence to meet MPI requirements. However, any systems of equivalence must be approved by MPI before use. Word (1815 KB). PDF (1150 KB).
Essentially the March 2013 changes are:
1.0 Change of name
Change of the Ministry name and logo from Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
2.0 Removal of Annex N – Approval and minimum requirement of a Biosecurity Control Area (BCA)
Previously the Biosecurity Control Area was specified in the TF-GEN standard, but this has been removed from the standard and inserted into the Standard for Places of First Arrival.
3.0 Changes to the training frequency
The recommended changes to training frequency are that:
3.1 All trainees of a compliant transitional facility will have 4 years before being required to renew training (previously 2 years for APs and 4 years for OPs); New APs will be required to undergo 2 training sessions in the first instance (2 training sessions 2 years apart before moving to a 4 year frequency);
3.2 Trainees that are in a non-compliant facility, or are associated with non-performing transitional facilities will be required to increase the frequency of their training if required by the MPI Inspector.
3.3 In addition, if an event* occurs that requires additional training to be undertaken, then MPI reserves the right to instigate further training, irrespective of the training interval the trainee is following.
*A biosecurity event of significance that would render current training material and frequency inadequate.
For all matters relating to the operation of the new standard contact a MPI Inspector at:
Auckland
Auckland Biosecurity Centre
Phone: 09 909 8531
Fax: 09 909 8558
Email: facilityapprovals@mpi.govt.nz
Other offices
List of office contact details for MPI Inspectors outside of Auckland.
http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/regs/trans/app-group.
For all matters relating to the review and amendment of this standard contact a Senior Adviser within the Biosecurity and Environment Group on the details below:
Biosecurity and Environment Group
PO Box 2526
Wellington 6140
Phone: 04 894 0100
Fax: 04 894 0720
Email: standards@mpi.govt.nz
Page last updated: 9 May 2013