FAQs related to Transitional Facilities for CEM Testing of Mares

Charges apply for the initial and ongoing audit of facilities. The charge is made up of administrative, on-site inspection and travel expenses. All MAFBNZ charges, except travel, will be recovered on an hourly basis.

There is also an annual fee of $160 for all transitional facilities or containment facilites.

Yes, you can arrange for another facility to unload the container for you. Alternatively, if your facility is approved but there is currently no Accredited Person on site, you may use another already registered Accredited Person who may work at another location.

The approved operator must be able to retrieve, at the request of a MAFBNZ Inspector, records (for 7 years) covering:

• All imported sea containers brought into the facility, including all of the following information where relevant to the particular containers or goods received:
  • date of arrival at the facility
  • container number
  • ship & voyage number
  • product and quantity unpacked
  • country of export
  • date of container devanning
  • confirmation that internal and external checks were conducted
  • name of the accredited person(s) who undertook the above checks
  • record of contaminants found and whether MAFBNZ was notified
  • any remedial action taken
• Operational procedures to ensure the requirements of all relevant MAFBNZ standards are followed.
• A copy of the transitional facility approval certificate.
• A copy of the operator's approval certificate.
• A list of accredited persons available to conduct container checks.
• A copy of the current standard (Requirements of Transitional Facilities for Sea Containers Standard).
• A copy of the current Import Health Standard for Sea Containers From all Countries.

To receive sea containers to your premises you must apply for your premises to become a MAFBNZ approved Transitional Facility for sea containers.

There is an Import Health Standard (IHS) for importing sea containers. This standard describes the conditions that need to be met by sea containers imported into New Zealand.

Depending on the facility and if risk goods are present:

If a facility is able to control access (eg customer and couriers are coming to one area to pick-up and drop-off items) then a visitors book might not be necessary.

In general, there should be no public access where uncleared risk goods are held.

A sealed hard stand area should be big enough to have a 3m clearance at the front for unloading and 1m clearance around the sides and back of the container so a check by an Accredited Person can easily take place. 3m around the entire container should be kept clear from vegetation, rubbish or debris.

If you have an equivalent system in place to effectively mitigate biosecurity risk, contact your local Biosecurity Inspector who can assess whether or not it is appropriate.

To gain or maintain approval in a rural area you may need to develop specialised systems that can more effectively deal with biosecurity risks. For example, if you do not have access to council sewers then you may need to find another approved means of dealing with waste water if it is used to clean sea containers or other risk material. Contact an Inspector for more details.

Facilities are encouraged to have internet access on site as this will allow for ease of communication with MAF. It will also allow facilities importing sea containers to report contaminated sea container log sheets using the online system at the MAF Approved Transitional Facility and Accredited Person Site .

The types of facilities covered under the new standard are facilities previously approved under the following standards

• 152.04.03f - Requirements for holding and processing facilities
• BNZ STD TFSCO - requirements for transitional facilities for sea containers
• PBC-NZ-STD-FACIL-FLIGHT – requirements for flight kitchens (transitional facilities)
• PBC-NZ-STD-FACIL-REFUSE – requirements for incineration/ sterilisation facilities for quarantine refuse or uncleared risk goods
• 154.02.18- transitional facilities for animal products
• 154.02.17 – transitional facilities for biological products ONLY where the facility is receiving and holding the product, not processing the product.

Operating manual templates will be made available on the MAFBNZ website. They provide a basis only for the development of your operating manual, because it must be specific to your facility. The Operator training course also provides information and help with development of an operating manual.

The examples in the guidance document have been provided as a set of acceptable solutions to meeting the Standard. If you do not want to follow the solutions as provided, you may develop your own procedures tailored to your facility. However these must be deemed acceptable by an Inspector before they are put into use at a facility.

The TF Gen guidance document provides ways to meet the requirements of the Standard. If the examples shown in the guidance document are not appropriate for a particular facility, then they may devise their own equivalent systems to suit their specific needs. However, any equivalence systems must meet the same biosecurity outcome as examples given, and must also be approved by MAFBNZ prior to use. If you have developed a customised system, contact your local Biosecurity Inspector who can assess whether or not it is appropriate.

If you are receiving sea containers then you will need access to sufficient numbers of Accredited Persons (APs) to check sea containers at a transitional facility. More information on AP training and who to contact to organise this training can be found on the list of providers for Biosecurity Awareness Training for Accredited Persons.

Under the TF Gen, if you are an Operator of more than one facility, the facility where you don't have direct day to day management should have a deputy Operator. Deputy operators are also required to take the Operator training course.

Where an Operator is intending to be away for any length of time, and a facility is receiving risk goods during this time of absence, the facility may require a Deputy Operator. If volumes of risk goods being received are low and an Operator is still contactable (eg by phone) then a deputy may not be necessary. Check with an Inspector if you are unsure.

Operator training needs to be refreshed every four years.

All existing and new Operators and Deputy Operators approved or audited against the TF Gen standard must take the Operator training course.

There are three Operator training providers, for details of Operator training go to the New Training Requirements for Operators of Transitional Facilities page.

MAFBNZ currently has two different sets of training requirements for

• Accredited Persons for sea container checks
• Operators of transitional facilities

As they have different purposes, the training is not interchangeable and one course does not replace the other.

An Accredited Person checks sea containers on arrival at a transitional facility and must take the AP training course.

A facility Operator is the person whose name appears on the MAFBNZ Transitional Facility Operator approval certificate and is legally responsible for the management of the transitional facility. They must take the Operator training course.

To avoid confusion, when making a booking please ensure you are attending the correct training for your role. Also be sure to ask for a training location nearest to you.

If you are already an Operator approved under previous relevant Standards you do not have to submit the police check form. These are required for brand new Operator and Deputy Operator approvals once the standard is enforced.

Send the Consent to Disclosure of Information (police check) form with your application documents to the relevant MAF office. For office contact details around the country go to the Operations and Facilities Group Contact Details page.

A clearly visible sign (or signs) will be required to let people know they are entering an approved Transitional Facility area, and only permitted persons are allowed access. They can be placed where they are most appropriate to your facility (eg entry ways). This will be checked by your MAFBNZ Inspector. An example sign is shown below.

The new Standard is expected to be implemented in February 2009.

Starting February 2009, Inspectors will audit facilities against the new standard. Inspectors will issue corrective action request(s) (CARs) for facilities that do not meet the new requirements. CARs are expected to be followed-up within the timeframe agreed upon with the Inspector.

Your local MAFBNZ Inspector will be available to help you through this process and answer any questions you may have.

MAF is improving procedures for assessing imported goods for biosecurity risk. Under the 2003 Regulations, risk assessment on import documentation is performed manually and MAF recovers the cost through an import documentation fee. This fee has been applied to risk goods only, but all imported goods need to be assessed for risk.

MAF screens all imported goods for the risk they pose to New Zealand. The biosecurity risk screening levy 2006 will be a new cost to importers who have previously not been charged the import documentation fee. Import entries identified as non- risk goods (such as shrink wrapped television sets) will be given a biosecurity clearance with no delay and no further cost beyond the biosecurity risk screening levy. Imported goods considered to be a risk will be identified for further consideration by MAF.

The Biosecurity (Costs) Regulations 2003 have been in place since May 2003 and charges have not been amended since then. The new charges reflect current costs and changes in MAF’s operations. In its provision of cargo clearance services, MAF needs to:

• Ensure that any changes in practices required at the border are adequately cost recovered;
• Avoid under and over recovery of costs over time;
• Ensure charges remain fair and equitable.

The key changes are:

• An increase in the MAF hourly rate inspection charge to $100 per hour;
• A new method of charging to recover costs relating to the primary screening of import documentation; a biosecurity risk screening levy of $3.38 will be charged on all imported goods that attract New Zealand Customs Service's import entry transaction fee. The biosecurity risk screening levy replaces the current inspection of import documentation fee from 1 October 2006. The levy will be collected by Customs on behalf of MAF.
• A new method of charging to pay for sea container clearance system costs and the increased monitoring and verification activities required by the revised import health standard for sea containers; A levy will be charged on all imported sea containers of $16 for full sea containers and $7 for empty containers.
• The number of categories of inspection charges for used vehicles has been reduced from 15 to four and the fee structure has been simplified. Inspection and re-inspection of used vehicles will be charged at the same rates.

After the release of its discussion paper Border Clearance Costs and Organism Identification Requirements in April 2006, MAF found that it needed to make modifications to some of its proposals outlined in that discussion paper in light of the consultation feedback received and changes in trade volumes and some costs. The reasons for this were:

• The volume of used vehicles, containers and general cargo had fallen further than anticipated;
• The Office of the Auditor- General had released its report on Managing biosecurity risks associated with high-risk sea containers recommending that MAF undertake additional work on containers;
• Some further costs had been identified.

Consequently, the shipping container levy was increased to enable more work to be undertaken on sea containers and the biosecurity risk screening levy was increased to fund more risk profiling effort and systems development as recommended by the Office of the Auditor-General report and further internal work. The hourly inspection rate was also increased slightly to ensure sustainability of the fees for the next 3 years.

The new charges under the Biosecurity (Costs) Regulations 2006 become effective from 7 September 2006. Imported goods that land in New Zealand and require biosecurity clearance from 7 September onwards will be charged the fees contained in the Biosecurity (Costs) Regulations 2006.

Importers will be able to pay in cash for fees incurred under the Biosecurity (Costs) Regulations 2006.

A charge for waiting time will be applied in the Biosecurity (Costs) Regulations 2006. This is payable at the applicable hourly rate for a MAF inspector or veterinary inspector for the time each inspector spends in waiting for the goods to become available.

Those being charged can minimise charges by ensuring compliance with the required standards and thus avoid additional inspections. Importers/transitional facilities can minimise charges by ensuring that risk goods are available for inspection at the time that has been booked, and that labour is provided for unpacking and repacking goods. Transitional facilities also need to be kept to the required standard.

Organism identification is costly work and the fees in the 2003 Regulations charged by the MAF Investigation and Diagnostic Centres (IDCs) did not reflect the true cost of the organism identification work. The fees for the identification of organisms provided by MAF IDCs are not set by the Biosecurity (Costs) Regulations 2006 but are contestable and subject to market forces. Where MAF Biosecurity New Zealand Clearance Service inspectors undertake an organism identification, this would be charged at $100 per hour.

MAFBNZ will apply the following organism identification charging policy for the Biosecurity (Costs) Regulations 2006:

• Organism identification required for risk profiling and other information gathering making purposes will be funded by the Crown;
• Importers will be required to pay for organism identification only where it is required to determine whether goods can be cleared for entry into New Zealand. The organism identification charge will be applied to all organisms, ie, regulated and non-regulated.