Source: Ministry for Primary Industries
Have your say
From 18 July to 8 August 2024, Biosecurity New Zealand seeks your feedback on 2 proposed changes to the import health standard Importation of Nursery Stock.
The proposed changes are:
- reformatting the standard to make it more user-friendly
- suspending pathways (plant genus from a specific country) that are not used and/or are out of date.
We are proposing these changes to ensure:
- the standard is useable
- we can focus on the pathways that are important to the sector.
Further details about the proposed changes are on this page:
Questions and answers sessions
During the consultation period, we will run 2 online sessions using Microsoft Teams. The sessions are a chance for you to ask us questions about the proposals.
Date and time of the sessions
- Tuesday 23 July: 10am to 11am.
- Thursday 25 July: 12:30pm to 1:30pm.
To attend a session, tell us your preferred day in an email to plantimports@mpi.govt.nz
We will then send you an invitation link to that session.
Making your submission
We must get your feedback before 5pm on 8 August 2024.
Email your submissions to plantimports@mpi.govt.nz
We will read and consider all feedback received and make any changes necessary before publishing the final decisions, which we expect to be in late August or early September.
Questions to consider before making your submission
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Reformatting the import health standard
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We are seeking your feedback on the usability of the reformatted import health standard.
- Will you be able to find requirements for a commodity more easily than in the existing standard?
- Did you encounter any new issues using the proposed reformatted standard?
The proposed reformat is not intended to change any requirements in the standard. However, when you read the reformatted standard, you may have questions or concerns that also apply to the current standard. We want to hear about these concerns to guide our future prioritisation process. However, we will not address them as part of this proposed amendment.
Suspension of pathways that are not used and/or are out of date
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Before finalising our decision, we would like to hear from you about:
- the impacts this proposal may have on you
- any plant genera or species proposed for suspension that you have a viable and valid interest in importing
- the demand for – and opportunities for New Zealand in – plant species that are on the proposed suspension list, and that you are concerned about
- any relevant information we may have missed while developing this proposal.
We will assess the information you provide, and we may need to seek further clarification from you. We will take this information, and any details relating to pest threats that would need to be addressed, into account during our decision-making. We expect that much of your information will be able to guide our prioritisation processes in the future.
Submissions are public information
Note that all, part, or a summary of your submission may be published on this website. Most often this happens when we issue a document that reviews the submissions received.
People can also ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we must make the content of submissions available unless we have good reason for withholding it. Those reasons are detailed in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.
If you think there are grounds to withhold specific information from publication, make this clear in your submission or contact us. Reasons may include that it discloses commercially sensitive or personal information. However, any decision MPI makes to withhold details can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may direct us to release it.
What is being proposed?
These details should be read along with the consultation documents
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Reformatting the import health standard
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We are proposing to reformat the import health standard Importation of Nursery Stock to make it more user-friendly and align it with modern standards. This involves:
- standardising the language used across the document (including updating the name of the import health standard to Plants for Planting)
- standardising the order of information and requirements for all species and commodity types
- correcting errors and omissions
- providing links and summary tables to aid navigation and reduce how many places a reader needs to look to understand the requirements for a particular import.
The consultation documents include a shortened sample of the reformatted standard for you to assess. This sample includes the introductory and general sections of the standard in full, but only includes, as an example, a small number of the schedules of specific entry requirements.
Suspension of pathways that are not used and/or are out of date
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We are proposing to suspend unused and or out-of-date pathways in the import health standard Importation of Nursery Stock for several reasons. Our goal in doing this is to focus our efforts on the plants for planting pathways that are important to the sector, and which will have positive impacts and benefits to New Zealand.
- 459 of the 1927 genera covered by the standard have been imported in the past 11 years.
- The rest of the genera haven’t been imported in the past 11 years, and in most cases, haven’t been imported for over 25 years.
- Even though the pathways haven’t been used, our processes for assessing emerging pest threats still need to take these pathways into account, using resource that could be better used elsewhere.
- Many of the pathways we intend to suspend would need a significant review and require updating due to pest threats that have to date remained unaddressed.
- We want to be transparent about the pathways that are up to date, so that importers can invest in their importing projects with confidence.
One of the consultation documents is a complete list of genera eligible for import under the nursery stock standard with details on how the proposed changes will affect them.
We expect that some pathways proposed for suspension will be of interest to you, or that you may have been working on plans to import. We need your guidance about those. We want to know which pathways you have an interest in and intend to use to help us with our decision-making and potential priorities for future review.
More details about the pathways and our review
Biosecurity New Zealand has completed a review of the import health standard Importation of Nursery Stock to examine what pathways have been traded on and have effective import requirements to manage biosecurity risks. We have identified pathways on which safe trade can and does occur, and others which will need a review of biosecurity risks and may need new import requirements. Until this review can happen, pathways will be suspended to ensure we are transparent about the pathways that cannot be used.
Importation of Nursery Stock [PDF, 3.5 MB]
Currently there are 1,927 genera that are covered by the nursery stock import health standard. 459 genera in varying forms (whole plants, cuttings, bulbs, and tissue culture) have been imported in the last 11 years. We are satisfied that the requirements for these imported pathways appropriately manage biosecurity risks.
Where imports are active for some commodity types, only the unused and unmaintained riskier pathways are proposed for suspension. For example, if dormant cuttings have been maintained, dormant cuttings and tissue culture would remain open, and whole plants and bulbs would be suspended. We have used international guidelines to determine the threshold for level of risks between commodity types (Annex 1 of the International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures 36: Integrated Measures for Plants for Planting ).
There are many pathways that have known biosecurity risks identified through MPI’s Emerging Risks System and or have not been used nor maintained. There have been many changes over the last 11 or more years including in pest distribution, trade patterns, international standards, reliance on testing, changes in risk tolerance, changes in industry perception of risk, and new pest discoveries. A review of pathways considers these factors.
- About 60% of eligible genera have not been imported since retrievable digital records began in 1998.
- A further 13% genera have not been imported since 2013.
- Less than 1% of genera have been used and maintained but have identified biosecurity risks which potentially need more management.
We propose to suspend pathways under Section 24B of the Biosecurity Act 1993.
What’s next if a pathway is suspended?
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Pathway suspension is not a permanent situation. Pathways can be re-opened after biosecurity risk is assessed and we can ensure the standard is effective at managing risks.
The feedback we receive, especially about pathways you intend to use, will help shape our standard maintenance and development programme for the future.
After suspension, Biosecurity New Zealand will be able to focus effort on reviewing pathways that are a priority. There are 3 expected ways forward.
- Some pathways will be reviewed and reopened.
- Some pathways will remain suspended while reviews are upcoming.
- After consultation at a later date, some pathways will be revoked if there is no interest or priority to review them.
Whether pathways are suspended or revoked the plants could be imported again after a review and consultation on new import requirements. Plants will remain listed on the Plants Biosecurity Index with the appropriate status.
