Source: Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ)
The Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ) says the New Zealand economy will benefit from today’s announced streamlining of regulatory approaches for dairy exports.
The Government announced the removal of a requirement that dairy exporters must obtain gazetted exemptions for their products from domestic compositional standards when selling to countries with different standards.
It is estimated that exporters could have missed out on millions of dollars in export earnings over recent years because of the requirement.
Chairman Guy Roper says the change will make it easier for companies to export new, high-value, and innovative dairy products.
“This is great news for the New Zealand economy at a time when every export dollar from every market matters.
“DCANZ is not aware of any other country requiring its dairy exporters to obtain gazetted exemptions from domestic compositional standards when they are not appropriate for the export market. These applications have often taken months to process, slowing the time to market for new products.
“The requirement to apply for compositional exemptions has put our exporters at a disadvantage to their overseas competitors when responding to international customer requirements.
“The changes will remove a long-standing and self-inflicted barrier to growing the value of New Zealand’s dairy exports at a time when our economy needs every export dollar it can get”
Every country’s food regulators determine the appropriate product standards for food sold in their market and they do that by taking into account the needs of their domestic populations and factors such as geographically differing nutrient availability across all food sources.
“A good example of this is that Europe has set higher ranges for vitamin D in formulated foods than New Zealand does, reflecting that our northern hemisphere counterparts receive less vitamin D from other sources, such as sunlight.
“Meanwhile, New Zealand’s requirements for selenium levels in formulated foods are higher than other countries, reflecting the low levels we have in our soils and therefore in our other food sources.”
The requirement for compositional exemptions has been in place since 2005 despite there being a legal requirement under the Animal Products Act (1999) for dairy exporters to ensure their products are safe and conform to the requirements of their intended market.
“Dairy exporters have been seeking this change for some years. In 2020 we identified it as a regulatory change that would support export value growth, and the need for the requirement has been consistently questioned since its introduction.
“We are pleased the Government has removed this unnecessary and costly second-guessing of other countries’ regulatory competence,” Mr Roper says.
Having a streamlined and less duplicative regulatory approach around this is exactly the type of red-tape reduction needed to support export growth.”
Dairy exports account for one in every four dollars New Zealand earns from all goods and services trade.
