EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Imported Food Control Act 1992
Imported Food Control Amendment Order 2010 (No. 1)
Section 43 of the Imported Food Control Act 1992 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted to be prescribed by the Act, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Subsection 16(1) of the Act provides that regulations may set out particulars of a food inspection scheme applicable to all food to which the Act applies.
Paragraph 16(2)(a) of the Act provides that the regulations may empower the Minister, subject to consultation with Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), to make orders identifying food of particular kinds as food of a kind that is to be inspected, or inspected and analysed, under the food inspection scheme
(the scheme).
Regulation 7 of the Imported Food Control Regulations 1993 (the Regulations) provides that the Minister may make orders identifying food of a particular kind as food of a kind that is required to be inspected, or inspected and analysed, under the scheme. The Minister may also vary orders made under regulation 7 from time to time. Regulation 8 permits the Minister to make orders classifying food of a particular kind to which the Act applies as either risk food, surveillance food or compliance agreement food. The Imported Food Control Order 2001 (the Order) is made under regulations 7 and 8.
The purpose of the Imported Food Control Amendment Order 2010 (No. 1)
(the Amendment Order) is to make consequential amendments that reflect amendments made to the Regulations by the Imported Food Control Amendment Regulations 2009 (No. 2).
The amendments to the Regulations related to the use of compliance agreements under section 35A of the Act and gave effect to recommendation 47 of the report by Mr Roger Beale AO: One Biosecurity: A Working Partnership (2008)
(the Beale Report).
Recommendation 47 of the Beale Report recommended that the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) should enter into compliance agreements to recognise formally the food safety management systems of importing businesses. The Beale Report is the outcome of an independent review of Australia’s quarantine and biosecurity arrangements. The review was commissioned by the Australian Government in early 2008. The purpose of the review was to identify how Australia’s quarantine and biosecurity arrangements could be improved.
The amendments to the Regulations introduced a new classification entitled ‘compliance agreement food’. Food classified as compliance agreement food will be subject to an alternative mode of regulation under the scheme. Food will only be classified as compliance agreement food if it is food to which a valid compliance agreement applies. Compliance agreement food will not be required to be inspected, or inspected and analysed, under the scheme. Instead, the food safety management systems of importing businesses will be formally recognised through compliance agreements and will be regularly audited by AQIS.
The Amendment Order will classify all food that is subject to a compliance agreement as compliance agreement food. It will provide that food listed as risk food under clause 1 of Schedule 1 to the Order, which is subject to a valid compliance agreement, will not be required to be inspected, or inspected and analysed, under the scheme.
The Minister has consulted with FSANZ about the changes contained in the Amendment Order.
AQIS consulted with industry through the Imported Food Consultative Committee (IFCC). Consultation also occurred with the AQIS / Industry Cargo Consultative Committee.
The Office of Best Practice Regulation was consulted and a Regulatory Impact Statement was prepared.
The Amendment Order is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
Details of the amendments are set out below:
Order 1 provides that the name of the Amendment Order is the Imported Food Control Amendment Order 2010 (No. 1).
Order 2 provides that the Imported Food Control Amendment Order 2010 (No. 1) will commence on the day after it is registered.
Order 3 provides that Schedule 1 amends the Imported Food Control Order 2001.
Schedule 1 - Amendments
Item [1] amends the definition of ‘ready-to-eat’ in suborder 3(1) by omitting the word ‘subsection’ and inserting the word ‘suborder’. This corrects a typographical error.
Item [2] amends suborder 4(1) by inserting new suborders 4(2) and 4(2A). The effect of suborder 4(2) is to classify all food to which a compliance agreement applies as compliance agreement food. The new suborder 4(2A) will ensure that food classified as risk food that is listed in clause 1 of Schedule 1, which is subject to a valid compliance agreement, will be classified and treated as compliance agreement food under the scheme.
Food that is classified as compliance agreement food will not be subject to inspection or analysis under the scheme. This is because AQIS will regulate food imported under a valid compliance agreement through regular audits of the importing business’s food safety management system and compliance with the compliance agreement.
Formally recognising the food safety management systems of importing businesses also allows AQIS to implement a risk-return approach to managing biosecurity risks, in line with recommendations 44 and 77 of the Beale Report.
Item [3] amends the heading to schedule 1 by substituting the reference to ‘(subsection 4(1))’ with ‘(suborder 4(1))’. This corrects a typographical error.
Item [4] amends clause 1 in schedule 1 by omitting the word ‘subsection’ and inserting the word ‘suborder’. This corrects a typographical error.