New ACVM Directorate

In our last issue, we shared that the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) team has been established as a dedicated directorate (effective from 1 December 2025). We can now confirm the leadership team:

• Director ACVM - Karen Booth;
• Manager Regulatory Programmes - Holly Jeboult-Jones;
• Manager Agricultural Chemicals & VTAs – Amanda McKay; and
• Manager Veterinary Medicines – Alison Weaver.

The ACVM Directorate was established by Vincent Arbuckle, Deputy Director‑General of New Zealand Food Safety, to reflect the growing significance of the ACVM function both in New Zealand and internationally. The new structure reinforces the Directorate’s core role as a regulator of agricultural compounds and veterinary medicines, ensuring this work continues to be well supported and clearly prioritised. The Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) team remains a part of the Assurance Directorate.

This change is intended to help the ACVM work more efficiently and implement the recommendations identified in the Agricultural and Horticultural Products Regulatory Review. Improvements will continue to develop over time, supported by the team’s strong commitment to delivering its core regulatory functions while progressing the wider implementation work.

The structure of the new ACVM directorate:

New team member

The ACVM team welcomes Julliana Bueno (Julia) to the Regulatory Programmes team, taking over from Mayuri Suryavanshi while she is on parental leave. Julia is co-ordinating our adverse event programme and liaising with parties who submit adverse events to us. Julia has a Bachelor of Science in Animal Science and Physiology from Massey University. After graduating, she joined the Approvals team as an operations adviser, where she has developed her knowledge of the ACVM Act through processing a wide range of applications, and liaising with many registrants over the past 4 years. Julia says: “I’m really looking forward to growing that knowledge further and contributing to the work of the Regulatory Programmes team.” Outside of work, Julia enjoys playing netball, going on hikes, and spending time with family and friends.

International participation

Sarah Lester attended the Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) held in Geneva in January. The JMPR is an expert ad hoc body administered jointly by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organisation (WHO) for the purpose of harmonising the requirements and the risk assessment of pesticide residues. This includes recommendations for maximum residue levels to the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR) for consideration to be adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) as Codex maximum residue levels (CXLs) in their upcoming meetings.

Sarah Lester with the other JMPR attendees - she is directly behind the woman in the white top.

Progress underway on milestone agreement with the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority

In our December issue, we shared that New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS) and the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) signed a milestone agreement between our countries that will give the region’s primary sector faster and more efficient access to important new agricultural compounds and veterinary medicines. Work is now underway to operationalise this agreement and we want to share more details of what this means for stakeholders.

What does the NZFS-APVMA MoU mean?

The new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in November 2025, between Australia’s APVMA and New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS) will help facilitate more cooperative work between the APVMA and ACVM on agricultural compound regulation. A key focus is to work more closely in areas such as registration through the reliance pathway, pre and post registration activities, harmonisation/alignment of guidelines, staff training and capacity building, and industry outreach and training.

What benefits are there for my company?

Through the agreement, ACVM aims to deliver the following benefits to registrants:

• Earlier and clearer engagement: Structured opportunities for preapplication and technical discussions with the ACVM team to help clarify data expectations, sequencing, and timelines upfront.
• Improved planning certainty: Better alignment between Australian and New Zealand regulatory processes and guidelines to support more predictable registration pathways and coordinated market entry strategies.
• Improved regulatory pathways – registration through reliance: The ability to use each other’s regulatory assessments to support registration in each country (through reliance requests) but noting that the MoU preserves Australia and New Zealand’s independent decision-making.
• Maintained regulatory integrity: Increased co-operation and sharing of information between each regulator to give registrants further confidence that outcomes remain robust and tailored to local conditions.
• Stronger trans-Tasman collaboration: A more transparent and cooperative regulatory environment to support innovation and faster access to safe, effective agricultural chemicals and veterinary medicines in both markets.

Registrants should be aware of the following when considering reliance requests:

• There will be no automatic trans-Tasman approvals. All products must still meet ACVM requirements.
• Reliance is not guaranteed. APVMA assessments may be used, but additional New Zealand-specific data can still be required.
• Timing depends on the availability and alignment of APVMA assessments.
• New Zealand decisions are independent. Conditions and outcomes may differ to reflect New Zealand’s regulatory context.

Please contact the relevant team manager if you have a product that you would be interested in taking through the reliance process:

• Agricultural Chemical & VTAs: Amanda.McKay@mpi.govt.nz 
• Veterinary Medicines: Alison.Weaver@mpi.govt.nz

Inhibitor update

In the past year, the ACVM team has been contacted by 30 companies to discuss their environmental inhibitor development plans and ACVM registration requirements. The enquiries cover both methane and nitrogen mitigations. Please continue to contact us if you have any enquiries.

To better accommodate qualitative claims, we published an updated methane efficacy guidance in October last year and are currently undertaking a targeted consultation with selected parties on the nitrification and urease inhibitor efficacy guidance, which is expected to be published in March 2026. 

Discussions with mitigation developers consistently focus on ensuring efficacy and on how this can be demonstrated efficiently and accurately. Developers are not only seeking to register their trade name products, but also want these products to count in the national GHG inventory by capturing verified emissions reductions. To support this, we have initiated a project to align efficacy assessment processes across MPI, enabling mitigations to more quickly and consistently meet the requirements of these different pathways.

The next inhibitor operational forum will be held on Thursday, 2 April 2026. Members should have received a calendar invite. For any inhibitor enquiries, email Mark.Aspin@mpi.govt.nz.

More information on inhibitors can be found on our website How to register an inhibitor | NZ Government

AMR team update

Positive AMR kiwifruit and pip fruit audits

In October 2025, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) audited the kiwifruit and pip fruit industries as part of its Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) audit programme. These industries were previously audited in 2023.

The 2025 audit findings were extremely positive. Engagement with MPI and work invested by the kiwifruit and pip fruit industries have greatly improved their awareness of AMR.

Growers now have a clearer understanding of the conditions of registration applied to horticultural antibiotics and are more aware of AMR and the need to preserve antibiotic efficacy.

Industry bodies have incorporated AMR-focused material into their grower resources and actively promote the use of non-antibiotic alternatives.

Overall, antibiotics are being used carefully in the horticultural industry. Growers rely on weather and disease-risk models to predict the need for antibiotics. Most growers noted that antibiotics are a last-resort option, used only in response to a high risk of disease. Growers are also familiar with non-antibiotic alternatives and alternate products to avoid the increase of AMR.

Compliance update

ACVM compliance received 356 reports of potential or confirmed non-compliant ACVM products and activities in 2025, of which:

• 42% were complaints of potentially non-compliant exempt or unregistered ACVM products being advertised and/or sold.
• 23% were complaints of potentially non-compliant ACVM registered product being advertised and/or sold.
• 22% were international notifications of rapid alerts, recalls or GMP non-compliance reports. The majority of which did not affect ACVM products in New Zealand.
• 11% were notifications of non-complying batches of ACVM registered products released or yet to be released to the market.
• 2% were notification of non-complying batches of an ACVM exempt product released or yet to be released to the market

And 12 reports were received in January 2026:

ACVM applications approved in January 2026

The ACVM Register is publicly accessible and allows you to search for any registered veterinary medicines, agricultural chemicals, and vertebrate toxic agents. This includes 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 30 January, there were:

• 53 applications in the queue
• 56 applications in appraisal

In the queue, there are:

• 29 new product applications (15 A-Type & 14 B-Type)
• 19 use-change applications
• 5 deviation applications

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

Veterinary medicine application update

As of 30 January, there were: 

• 55 applications in the queue 
• 113 applications in appraisal 

In the queue, there are: 

• 21 new product applications (13 A-Type & 8 B-Type) 
• 12 use-change applications 
• 17 chemistry and manufacturing variation applications
• 3 deviation applications 
• 2 operating plans

Reporting adverse events to MPI

If you have concerns about an animal feed, veterinary medicine or agricultural chemical, MPI can help. Whether it’s a quality issue, or something unexpected has happened when using the product, a quick report enables MPI to investigate and respond effectively.

If you are concerned about a product you’ve used, tell us about it by using the easy-to-complete online form that can be accessed here.  If you have questions about ACVM adverse events, email ACVM-AdverseEvents@mpi.govt.nz.

Reporting adverse events helps MPI to protect animal and plant health and support better outcomes across the sector. It’s a simple step that makes a big difference.

Veterinary medicines labelling guideline consultation

The draft update to the guidance on veterinary medicine product labels is in consultation, with a summary of the previous submissions provided as a separate document. The draft guidance and the summary can be found here. Consultation closed on 15 February 2026, however if you missed this close date and would like to make a late submission, please contact us as soon as possible.

2026 New Zealand Pet Food Association conference

The annual New Zealand Pet Food Association conference will be held at the Te Pae Convention Centre in Christchurch on 19-20 February 2026.  

NZFS has been part of this conference for many years and will be on the programme again. Come and say hi to the team if you’re there.  For more information about the conference, visit the website:  https://www.petfoodnz.co.nz/conference-2026

Special-circumstances submission guidance 

The following guidance is provided to support applicants to understand our expectations and help strengthen the overall quality of special‑circumstances submissions.

A Special Circumstances Approval (SCA) is a form of authorisation granted under section 8C of the ACVM Act to allow veterinarians and other entities to import and use an unauthorised agricultural compound on plants or animals in New Zealand without registration. In the case of veterinarians wishing to import veterinary medicines for use in animals under their direct care, this pathway is available to veterinarians when:

• there are no registered or exempt veterinary medicines, or consented human medicines available that would be effective in treating animals under their care, 
• to conform to export requirements,  

• for post-entry quarantine use on plants or animals, or  

• for when there is an imminent or anticipated biosecurity outbreak to be managed.  

Before completing the Special Circumstances Import Approval Request form, ensure you have read the Special Circumstances Approval Guideline. For veterinary medicines, the applicant must be a New Zealand registered veterinarian.

To avoid unnecessary delays during assessment or at the border, here are some things to keep in mind when preparing your SCA application:

• State the exact trade name on the form as it appears on the label of the product.   

• Provide a copy of the product label or a website link to the label information.

• Clearly indicate the pack size(s) intended for import, and the total number of packs requested (e.g. three bottles containing 100 tablets each).

• Justify the total quantity requested, using information on how the product is to be used (e.g. dose/application rate, treatment period, number of retreatments, etc.). If the product is meant to be imported in anticipation of use, justify the amount based on the expected use pattern over the period in which product is intended to be held. 

• For veterinary medicines, also include details on the target species and number of patients to be treated. If import is in anticipation of use, include the expected number of patients within the approval period as part of the justification for the total quantity requested.

• If the product contains an ingredient originating from an organism (e.g. plant, animal, fungus), tick ‘yes’ in the application form Biosecurity Approval section and complete Appendix 1 while providing any relevant information required for biosecurity assessment (see Guidance Document Section 5.4). If information is confidential to the manufacturer, they can provide it directly to ACVM to maintain confidentiality.  

• If this product is an antibiotic, discuss the impact of the intended use pattern on the development of antimicrobial resistance. Further information can be found at www.mpi.govt.nz/animals/veterinary-medicines-acvm/antimicrobial-resistance/.

Extension to public consultation on self-assessable changes 

The ACVM team has been progressing work that identifies chemistry and manufacturing variation changes that currently require applications to be submitted to ACVM that could be transitioned to self-assessable changes or notifications. The purpose of this is to ultimately reduce the regulatory burden on registrants and support a more efficient and reliable supply of products to the market and end users.

A self-assessable change is a change to the registration of a trade name product that does not require prior assessment or approval before being applied to the product or its manufacture. These types of changes are considered eligible for self-assessment because they present limited risk that can be managed by the registrant company. In each case, the registrant will have considered the change with respect to its impact on the risks and benefits as previously assessed by ACVM, and made the change in accordance with established criteria. The registrant will then inform ACVM of the change and confirm the impact on the product’s associated risks once actioned.

A public consultation on the new self-assessable changes guidance documents and changes to the existing chemistry and manufacturing guidance was opened on 18 December 2025, with an original closing date of 15 February 2026. This has been extended at the request of key stakeholders, and we are accepting submissions until 5pm on 15 March 2026.

VICH guidelines

The following revised VICH Biologicals Guideline has been adopted by the VICH Steering Committee for implementation in the regions by 1 April 2026:

• VICH GL 34(R1) – (Biologicals) – Mycoplasma: Test for the detection of Mycoplasma contamination. This revision was justified because in the Guideline’s section 1.2 Background there was an outdated reference to the European Pharmacopoeia. This reference has been updated, and a footnote has been added explaining this route of the revision.

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.