New electronic export certification now live

An electronic certification system that has been years in development is now operating for animal product exports, Food Safety Minister Nikki Kaye says.

The new certification system, launched in the last few weeks, replaces an older system that was approaching the end of its life and becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. It currently applies to meat and seafood products, with certification of dairy products scheduled from September 1.

The system offers importing countries additional security and anti-fraud features for dairy exports, which is important in protecting the reputation of New Zealand’s official assurances, Ms Kaye says.

“The export landscape is changing and New Zealand’s systems need to be able to deal with the shifting environment. This new system will help with that.

“The Ministry for Primary Industries is closely monitoring and supporting it to ensure that any issues are dealt with quickly and efficiently. It assures me that the new system is running well so far, and is continuing to work with industry and major trading partners to build on that good start.”

The government engaged extensively with exporters and the wider industry in the development of the new system, including through a long-standing industry steering group to ensure any changes would work in practice, Ms Kaye says. As part of its commitment to better public services, MPI put particular effort into ensuring the new system was easier to use and an improvement for companies trying to manage their export certification.

“Officials notified all markets of the change to the technology behind our export certification and stand ready to support clearance of product if necessary,” Ms Kaye says.

Work is progressing to transition the dairy industry to the new system. MPI held demonstration workshops last month in Christchurch, Palmerston North, Hamilton and Auckland.