Kia ora koutou,

Below is an update on upcoming public consultations.  

Cost Recovery
In April 2025, Cabinet approved consultation on the Ministry for Primary Industries' (MPI) cost model. MPI consulted in June and July and subsequently extended the process into August to provide Organics Aotearoa New Zealand (OANZ) the opportunity to lead the development of an alternative model for allocating the all-operator levy. 

MPI agreed that OANZ’s proposal for the all-operator levy could work, with some tweaks. We have made the tweaks to the OANZ’s turnover-based model and are planning to consult with the sector on this model next week. We will notify you once the consultation document is live on the MPI website.

Supplementary Notices
As noted in the last Organic News, we are currently consulting on the Organics Notice on inputs for generic substances:
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/consultations/proposed-organics-notice-on-inputs-for-generic-substances/. The consultation closes on 7 November.

We are planning to start consultation on the next round of Notices. To expedite the consultation process, we will be rolling out the Notice content in tranches. This means that we will consult on the Notice content as it is developed. The final structure of the Notices will be confirmed after consultation.

Tranche One of the Notice content will cover the technical standards content.

Tranche Two will cover operator requirements, and will include Organic Management Plans, record keeping and importing standards. This content will supplement regulations in both the Organic Standards regulations and the Organics Products and Production regulations. 

Tranche Three will cover content for Recognised entities and will include recognition, accreditation, verification, quality management system, competency and record keeping for recognised entities. This content will supplement the Organic Products and Production regulations. 

We are expecting to consult on Tranche One of the Notice content next week, and it will be open for six weeks. The next tranches will be out for public consultation prior to Christmas. 

The development of supplementary Notice content that relates to sampling and testing and group schemes is planned for early 2026.

Ngā mihi,

The Organic Project Team