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Proposed amendments to the Animal Products Notice: Official Assurance Requirements

Have your say

New Zealand Food Safety is proposing changes to the Animal Products Notice: Official Assurance Requirements.

In 2024, the Notice was published as a result of the amalgamation of 2 separate notices, the:

  • Official Assurances Specifications for Animal Material and Animal Products
  • Official Assurances Specifications for Dairy Material and Dairy Products Notices.

The Animal Products Notice: Official Assurance Requirements specifies requirements for businesses processing animal products intended for export with official assurance.

Consultation on changes to the Notice started on 23 July and will close at 5pm on 22 August 2025.

What's being proposed?

The draft Official Assurance Requirements Notice proposes amending wording and structure to improve the readability of the document.

We're also proposing to make some policy changes including:

  • operator exhaustion of transfer document clauses
  • transfer documents for wool requirements
  • requirements for certification ethics and professional integrity for eligibility submitters and official assurance verifiers.

Plus we've proposed some other minor amendments to help with clarity and future-proofing the Notice.

Discussion documents

Draft Official Assurance Requirements Notice [PDF, 485 KB]

Draft Animal Products Notice: Official Assurance Requirements [PDF, 293 KB]

Technical tracking document: Official Assurance Requirements Notice [XLSX, 96 KB]

Related document: the existing Notice

Animal Products Notice: Official Assurance Requirements [PDF, 409 KB]

Making your submission

Email your feedback on the proposed Notice by 5pm on 22 August 2025 to Food.Assurance@mpi.govt.nz

If you wish to send your submissions in writing, post it to:

Food and Live Animal Assurance Team
Assurance Directorate
New Zealand Food Safety
Ministry for Primary Industries
PO Box 2526
Wellington, 6140.

What to include

Include the following information in your submission:

  • the title of this consultation document
  • your name and title (if applicable)
  • your organisation’s name (if applicable), and
  • your address and contact details.

Tips when writing your submission

  • Where possible, comments should be specific to a particular section in the document. 
  • All major sections are numbered and these numbers can be used to link comments to the document.
  • Where possible, reasons and data to support comments may be provided.
  • The use of examples to illustrate particular points is encouraged.

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.

Official Information Act 1982 – NZ Legislation

MPI business units