Kia ora koutou and welcome to the March edition of MPI Organic News

It continues to be a busy time for the New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS) and MPI Organics project team as we focus on progressing the regulations and meeting the EU negotiation timeframes. Work on the supplementary notice proposals is on hold for the time being, but we anticipate consultation late April.

Since the end of 2023 and until at least July of this year, MPI and NZFS resources are focused on progressing the process and standards regulations and supplementary notices, and on completing a side-by-side process with the EU regulations. All other workstreams are either paused or have a small amount of resource assigned to keep them going while we work through these priority tasks. 

As communicated in February’s Organic News, we had hoped to be consulting on the draft supplementary notice content by now. This has been delayed due to requiring comprehensive versions of the regulations from Parliamentary Counsel Office before we can be certain in the draft supplementary notice content. We now aim to start public consultation next month.

We are planning to stagger the public consultation on the supplementary notice content over several months, which will allow us to begin the EU negotiation process. Further updates will be made available in Organic News. 

Organic exports to the USA

From 19 March 2024, a National Organic Program (NOP) import certificate must be issued for all consignments of organic products exported to the USA. This certificate will be issued electronically within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Global Organic Integrity database.  

To prepare for this change, MPI worked with recognised agencies to ensure all relevant New Zealand organic businesses are registered in Global Organic Integrity in time. MPI will register all organic exporters; recognised agencies will register all “final handlers”.

Please contact your US-based importers to check that they too are registered in the (non-Global) Organic Integrity database. MPI expects that it will not be possible to create a NOP Import Certificate after 19 March 2024 if your importer is not also registered in the database. 

When exporters request a NOP import certificate, they will use the same application form and follow the same process as used to register their organic consignments to the USA.

MPI has also published an amendment to the Official Organic Assurance application form, to prompt you to provide the following:

·       The Global Organic Integrity ID number for the New Zealand exporter.

·       The (non-global) Organic Integrity number for the US recipient.

·       For each product in the consignment:

o   The Global Organic Integrity ID number for the ‘final handler’.

o   The 10-digit Harmonised Tariff (HT) number.

Because MPI is enabling a six-month transition period to use the new application form, if you are not using the new form you will need to include this information in a cover email, when the application form is emailed to MPI.

You can find a link to the new form here.

MPI has published an amendment to Organic Export Requirements: United States of America Overseas Market Access Requirements (OER: US OMAR) to clarify the arrangements for exporting organic products to the USA. The new OER: US OMAR can be found here.

Consultation on proposal to maintain and expand services to businesses under the Food Act 2014

MPI recently closed its consultation on cost recovery to maintain and enhance existing domestic and importers food business services and proposed additional services to implement the Food Act 2014. This included:

·       A proposal to introduce a Domestic Food Business Levy: an annual levy of $115 phased in from 1 July 2025 per domestic site.

·       A proposal to introduce a Food Importer Levy: a levy shared based on a proportion of the economic volume of goods imported, with a minimum levy rate of $67.50 for imports between 0 – 49,999 kg.

Sustainably funding core regulatory services is important to ensure public health and trust in the food safety systems. This ensures:

·       Robust and modern risk management through improved rules setting, while easing rules that place unreasonable regulatory burden on food businesses.

·       Timely and additional advisory and education support for food businesses to meet their regulatory requirements.

·       Oversight and coordination of regulatory partners to support their provision of a fair and consistent level of service to all food businesses.

·       Monitoring to provide assurance the system is working well and to proactively identify and manage systemic issues.

Consultation was open from 2 February to 15 March 2024. NZFS sought feedback from industry on these proposed expansions. Thanks to all who made submissions or participated in hui as part of this consultation. A summary of submissions and report to Cabinet is underway.

New Zealand Pet Food Manufacturers Association (NZPFMA) Conference 2024

NZFS sponsored, presented, and hosted a trade stand at the NZPFMA Conference from 22-23 February. The two-day conference was held in Wellington and provided NZFS with an opportunity to engage with NZPFMA’s members and promote industry compliance with the Animal Products Act, Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicine (ACVM) regulations, export regulations, labelling requirements and class determinations and discuss other key issues within the sector. One area of particular interest at the conference were requirements for exporting organic petfood.

For more information about exports, organic petfood or otherwise, check out organic exporting advice guidance on the MPI website or contact us for more advice on exporting.

The Organic Futures Symposium and Organics NZ Awards Celebration will be hosted in Wellington on Friday 3 May 2024. Tickets are available here.