Milestone agreement strengthens agricultural innovation across Australasia

On Monday, 24 November, New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS) and the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) signed a milestone agreement between New Zealand and Australia that will give the region’s primary sector faster and more efficient access to important new agricultural compounds and veterinary medicines.

The agreement focuses on improving regulatory efficiency through shared assessments, cross-training staff, and aligning processes where possible. It supports the goal of positioning Australasia as a market of choice for innovative products that deliver value to farmers and the wider community.

This initiative reflects recommendations from the Ministry for Regulation’s Agricultural and Horticultural Products Regulatory Review, which called for greater use of international assessments to save time and resources. It also aligns with APVMA’s commitment to leveraging global partnerships to enhance efficiency.

The collaboration will serve as a blueprint for future agreements with other regulators. While each agency must meet its legislative requirements, working together improves productivity and strengthens confidence among industry and the public.

Read more about the agreement here: https://bit.ly/489eMfT

Maria Trainer, Executive Director for Science and Assurance at APVMA, and New Zealand Food Safety Deputy Director-General Vincent Arbuckle sign the Memorandum of Understanding. Joining them online was APVMA Chief Executive Officer Scott Hansen.

ACVM Christmas cut-off and shutdown dates for 2025 

As we near the end of 2025, please be aware of the cut-off dates for applications submitted to the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) teams. These dates are also in the Operations Team’s email signatures and in the automatic reply from the Approvals inbox.

NZFS will endeavour to process ACVM applications prior to Christmas. Applications for the last pre-screen of 2025 have closed.

Applications submitted after Monday, 1 December, may not be notified of the pre-screen outcome until after Thursday, 15 January 2026.  

If further information is requested, it is unlikely that your application will be approved prior to Thursday, 15 January 2026. For all other applications received after noon, Monday, 1 December, these may not be processed until the new year. 

MPI sites will be closed from 12pm on 24 December 2025 and will open again on 5 January 2026. For urgent issues during this time, please phone 0800 00 83 33.

Staff updates

The ACVM team has recently undergone a process to establish the ACVM function as its own stand-alone directorate with its own director; effective from 1 December 2025. The change included the transfer of the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) team to the Chemical and Microbiological Assurance team, which remains part of the Assurance Directorate. This is an important change that will support the ACVM team to continue delivering high quality and efficient regulatory outcomes and lift its profile, leadership, and engagements with stakeholders.

The structure of the ACVM directorate:

Agricultural chemicals method transfer requirements

Previously, Section 5.5.1(2) of the ACVM Chemistry and Manufacturing Guidance Document required method validation, transfer, or partial revalidation from each site where an analytical method is used. While full re-validation was not needed for additional sites, comparative testing or partial revalidation (including accuracy) was expected.

What’s changing?

Feedback has suggested that other regulators do not routinely request method transfer data, and such information is often unavailable in a regulatory-ready format. As an interim measure, until this requirement can be reviewed and the guidance updated to reflect any changes in expectations, the Agricultural Chemicals team will accept a description of the method transfer process as sufficient for additional sites using methods already fully validated at one site, in place of specific transfer or partial revalidation data.

Inhibitor update

The ACVM team hosted its 11^th Inhibitor Operational Forum (IOF) on Wednesday, 26 November, with 45 attendees. Members received updates on ACVM’s regulatory consultation, international settings, Codex, and a refresher on the registration process. A roundtable discussion covered cooperation with Australia, research opportunities on nitrogen emissions, and updates from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and MPI Inventory team.

Following the forum, members should have received a short survey to complete. We encourage all members to take part, as your feedback will help shape future forums. The next IOF will be held on Wednesday, 1 April 2026. If you work in the environmental inhibitor space and wish to join the forum, contact Mark.aspin@mpi.govt.nz.

Interest in inhibitors remains strong, with 28 organisations engaging with the ACVM team this year. Three urease inhibitors have been registered, and four more are under review.

Collaboration with Australia is growing, with several advanced mitigation developers considering New Zealand registration. Mark Aspin recently attended a trans-Tasman climate collaboration meeting and the inaugural Zero Net Emissions Cooperative Research Centre (ZNE-Ag CRC) conference, highlighting shared challenges and opportunities for joint work on methane and nitrogen mitigation and utilising emerging carbon markets for farms. The recently announced milestone agreement between NZFS and APVMA further strengthens regulatory co-operation. 

AMR team update

As mentioned above, as part of the changes that have established ACVM as its own directorate, the AMR team has joined the Chemical and Microbial Assurance team managed by Stephen Collier within the Assurance directorate. The AMR team will continue working closely with the ACVM Veterinary Medicines team and wider ACVM directorate to continue to deliver the AMR work programme.

AMR Surveillance Dashboard

The AMR Surveillance Dashboard  is now live on the MPI website on the Endemic Disease Dashboard. The dashboard has three tabs where you can interactively explore surveillance data from antibiotic sales, AMR in food production animals, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing results of bacteria cultures from animals, submitted by veterinarians to three commercial diagnostic laboratories. We are still working on refining the dashboard and welcome any feedback on how we can improve its usefulness. Email us with any questions or suggestions at AMRteam@mpi.govt.nz

Compliance update 

ACVM compliance received 29 reports of potential or confirmed non-compliant ACVM products and activities in November, and 339 reports have been received to date this year:

ACVM applications approved in November 2025

The ACVM Register is publicly accessible and allows you to search for any registered veterinary medicines, agricultural chemicals and vertebrate toxic agents, including specific registered trade name products and their conditions of use; recent new product registrations; and suspended, cancelled or de-registered registrations.

Agricultural chemicals application update

As of the end of November, there were: 

• 40 applications in the queue 
• 58 applications in appraisal. 

In the queue, there are: 

• 21 new product applications (14 A-Type and 7 B-Type) 
• 15 new-use or use-change applications 
• 4 deviation applications. 

There are no chemistry and manufacturing variation applications in the queue. 

Veterinary medicine application update

As of the end of November, there were: 

• 54 applications in the queue 
• 120 applications in appraisal (37 of these are C10-Reassessment applications).

In the queue, there are: 

• 18 new product applications (9 A-Type and 9 B-Type) 
• 12 new-use or use-change applications 
• 18 chemistry & manufacturing change applications
• 4 deviation application 
• 2 operating plans. 

Contact us

ACVM Team, Assurance, New Zealand Food Safety Haumaru Kai Aotearoa

Pastoral House, 25 The Terrace, PO Box 2526, Wellington 6140, New Zealand

Email approvals@mpi.govt.nz  

Website Agricultural compounds and veterinary medicines (ACVM) | Agriculture | NZ Government (mpi.govt.nz)

Subscribe to ‘Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines’ and ‘ACVM recalls’ on the Ministry for Primary Industries website to receive email updates on matters relating to ACVM.