Skip to main content

Proposed amendments to the Animal Products Notice: Official Assurance Requirements

Update – 6 August 2026

Following this consultation, we've released the final version of the notice, a summary of the submissions we received, and the Consistency Accountability Statement (CAS).  

Animal Products Notice: Official Assurance Requirements 2026 [PDF, 564 KB]

Summary of submissions [PDF, 71 KB]

Animal Products Notice: Official Assurance Requirements 2026 – CAS and Summary of Underpinning Analysis [PDF, 208 KB]

The new notice comes into force on 17 August 2026.

Find out about Consistency Accountability Statements

Consultation background

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

The notice specifies requirements for issuing, controlling, and obtaining official assurances for animal material and animal products.

Consultation closed on 9 July 2026.

What was proposed?

This consultation sought feedback on a set of focused operational and system-related updates, primarily to support transition to MPI Trade Certification.

The proposed changes included:

  • updates to terminology and definitions
  • amendments to clarify transfer document processes
  • amendments to increase flexibility with import certificates
  • transitional provisions for transition to MPI Trade Certification.

Consultation documents

Proposed draft official assurance requirements consultation paper [PDF, 258 KB]

Draft Animal Products Notice: Official Assurance Requirements 2026 [PDF, 810 KB]

Related document: existing notice

Animal Products Notice: Official Assurance Requirements 2025 [PDF, 495 KB]

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 to 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

Our privacy commitment

The Privacy Act 2020 applies to all submissions. Any personal information you provide will be used only for the purpose of informing this consultation. All submissions will be read by MPI staff. MPI may also use artificial intelligence (AI) to summarise content and identify key themes. All AI outputs will be subject to human review.

To find out about the personal information we collect, our approach to privacy and security, and your rights, refer to this web page: Privacy and security