An export licence is also known as an allocation of quota, and you'll need a licence before you can export certain dairy products to the designated markets. We allocate export licences between August and September of each year during an allocation round.
To take part in the allocation round and receive a licence, there are a few steps you'll need to follow.
Make sure you're registered as an exporter
Only registered animal product exporters can apply for an export licence. Make sure you're registered by following the instructions.
Find out how to register as an exporter
Take part in the allocation round
We'll call for submissions to take part in the export licence allocation round in August of each year. We do this in the August prior to the start of the next quota year to ensure you've got time to ship product to the designated markets.
If you're eligible, we'll allocate export licences based on the percentage of total milksolids you've collected from dairy farmers in the most recent season, or an average of the 2 or 3 most recent seasons – whichever is the highest.
You'll receive an export licence for a particular market if your share in that market equates to 20 tonnes or more of product to the market for the quota year. If it's less, we'll re-allocate it among the other eligible participants.
Collect and submit your milksolids data as a statutory declaration
To be eligible to receive a licence, you'll need to have collected and acquired legal title in at least 0.1% of total milksolids collected from dairy farmers in New Zealand.
You need to submit this data to us in the form of a statutory declaration. If you're not sure whether you've collected enough milksolids to receive a licence, you can still submit your data by statutory declaration for consideration.
Processors supply us with the latest season's data, with the option of providing the previous season, or previous 2 season's data, and MPI determines which average to use.
You must have the declaration signed by either the chief executive or a director of your company. A Justice of the Peace or a solicitor must also witness and sign this declaration.
Once you've made your statutory declaration, email it to dairyquota@mpi.govt.nz
Or post it to:
Attention: Bridget McDonald
Dairy Quota Allocation and Transfers
MPI Policy
PO Box 2526
Wellington
The costs of export licences
The Quota Management System and Quota Management Register handle dairy quota export approvals and record who currently holds export licences.
Export licence holders are invoiced quarterly for the costs of running these systems, in proportion to the tonnes they're allocated under the export licence. The notice below sets the amount.
Dairy Export Quota Products Notice - Amount to recover for year [PDF, 261 KB]
Transferring export licences
If you hold an export licence, you may be able to transfer it to another eligible person under regulations associated with the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act.
You and the transferee are responsible for working out the commercial terms of the transfer – government agencies aren't involved. Note that you will need to register the transfer with MPI.
You can transfer any amount of a licence greater than 20 tonnes in a single transaction. You can only transfer parts of the licence that haven't been used.
Transfers become effective from the date when MPI notifies the transferor and transferee.
Registering the transfer of export licences
Both the transferor and the transferee will need to apply to the chief executive of MPI for registration of the transfer on the register of export licence holders. This will need to be put through in writing.
Note that for each transfer concerning a different designated market and quota year, we'll require a separate application.
Find out what you need for a transfer
If you're planning a transfer, then you'll need to submit an application with the following information:
- the full name, address and contact details of both yourself and the transferee (including a contact name, phone number, fax number and email address)
- the designated market and the product
- the volume of quota exports
- the period for which the amount of export licence to be transferred is valid (the quota year for which it is valid and, in the case of butter to the EU, the sub-period of a quota year for which it is valid)
- the date the export licence was first allocated or registered to the transferor.
Transferring an export licence – Application form [PDF, 64 KB]
