- BICON database
- Phytosanitary Certificates
- Arhopalus ferus flight season
- Phytophthora kernoviae area freedom declaration
- Wood products – packaging
- Bark
Disclaimer
This information is provided on the following basis. The phytosanitary requirements below may be used as the basis of export certification. However, requirements may be changed by importing countries at any time at short notice or with no notice to New Zealand. This information is provided strictly on the basis that the Crown, the Ministry for Primary Industries, its statutory officers, employees, agents and all other persons responsible for or associated with the compilation, writing, editing, approval or publication of the information:
- disclaim any and all responsibility for any inaccuracy, error, omission, lateness, or any other kind of inadequacy, deficiency or flaw in, or in relation to, the information; and
- without limiting (1) above, fully exclude any and all liability of any kind on the part of all of them, to any person or entity that chooses to rely on this information
Compliance with the requirements below is not to be taken as a guarantee that any particular goods will be granted access to any overseas market.
Last Updated: 31 October 2024
1. BICON database — biosecurity import conditions
BICON is the Australian Department of Agriculture’s biosecurity import conditions database. Search BICON for your commodity specific requirements.
Additional Tasmanian State phytosanitary import requirements are at:
2. Phytosanitary Certificates
As of 31 August 2020, most commodities that require a phytosanitary certificate to export to Australia will exchange these electronically. No physical certificate will need to be printed.
The exceptions to this are the following, which will require an official copy of the phytosanitary certificate for clearance upon arrival in Australia:
- Timber and timber products
- Prefabricated buildings
- Cane
- Rattan
- Willow
- Wicker
- Permitted plant fibres
For the most recent update as to whether electronic exchange is being implemented for a given commodity, please refer to BICON.
Where a copy of the phytosanitary certificate is still required, the certificate MUST be printed from the ePhyto system.
Note: Original paper phytosanitary certificates are still required for all commodities being exported via the mail/passenger pathway.
3 . Arhopalus ferus flight season
3.1 Arhopalus ferus flight season status
The 2024/2025 Arhopalus ferus flight season for ALL New Zealand ports:
- Starts 00:01 hrs on 01 November 2024; and
- Ends 23:59 hrs on 30 April 2025.
Consignments loaded outside of these dates are not subject to the Arhopalus ferus flight season requirements.
3.2 Arhopalus ferus Flight Season Requirements
During the Arhopalus ferus flight season these requirements must be met in addition to regular requirements for all timber and timber mouldings, and for break-bulk plywood, LVL and veneer. (i.e. not shipped in 6-sided hard dry box containers). Containerised plywood and LVL products with veneers not more than 5mm thick are exempt from Arhopalus ferus flight season requirements.
3.2.1 Treatment
Treatment options available during the Arhopalus ferus flight season are listed below.
Details of the treatment options used must be included on the phytosanitary certificates.
During the Arhopalus ferus flight season, wood and wood products must:
- meet the requirements of the MPI Secure pathway official assurance programme (available for containerised consignments only), or
- be treated with one of these:
a. methyl bromide fumigation at:
• 48 g/m³ for 12 hours at a minimum temperature of 15 °C; or
• 56 g/m³ for 12 hours at a minimum temperature of 10 °C;
b. ethanedinitrile (EDN) fumigation at 25 g/m³ for 3 hours at a minimum temperature of 10 °C;
c. insecticidal fog (e.g. barricade, pestigas, permigas, pybuthrin 33) containing a synthetic or natural pyrethroid(s) applied as per label instructions. This treatment must be undertaken in an enclosure (e.g. under tarp, container or an enclosed building) it must not be applied to goods standing in the open;
d. spray containing synthetic pyrethroid(s) (e.g. Cislin 25) registered for the control of crawling pests in workplace environments is applied to surfaces as per label instructions. This treatment can be applied to goods standing in the open; or
e. full unpack and inspection on arrival to Australia, to confirm the absence of live BPL beetles (Note: These inspections are in addition to normal surveillance requirements for other consignments on the vessel).
3.2.2 Post-treatment product security
Treated wood and wood products must remain secure and sealed under insect-proof covers within containers or within sealed ships holds between dusk and dawn.
- Venting of fumigations must occur between dawn and dusk only
- Loading of break-bulk wood and wood products onto vessels is permitted through the hours of darkness for all ports except Port Nelson, Napier Port, and Port Marlborough where loading must occur between dawn and dusk only. The changes apply only to wood products that are going to be fogged in the ship hold.
- No restrictions are enforced on loading times for containerised wood and wood products.
Dawn is defined as half an hour after sunrise.
Dusk is defined as half an hour before sunset.
4. Phytophthora kernoviae area freedom declaration
Timber (from species listed by Australia as pathogen risk timber ) that is not heat treated or kiln dried must be sourced from areas where Phytophthora kernoviae is not known to occur.
The declaration “All timber was harvested from areas surveyed and found to be free of Phytophthora kernoviae and Phytophthora ramorum (known as causing the Sudden Oak Death disease)” may be used on phytosanitary certificates if the following conditions are met:
- All timber in the consignment is sourced from a forest that is surveyed as part of the Forest Owners Association (FOA) Forest Health Surveillance Scheme, and is traceable to the forest of origin as per sections 4.1 or 4.2 below.
- The forest must have been found to be free from Phytophthora kernoviae
- and Phytophthora ramorum.
- The declaration is available for use by MPI approved organisations (MAOs) in accordance with section 4.1 below, or by exporters operating under an End Point Consignment Inspection in accordance with section 4.2 below.
4.1 Organisations operating under MPI approval
- The processing facility must confirm that the forest from which logs have been sourced is surveyed under the FOA Forest Health Surveillance Scheme. To confirm that the supplying forest has been surveyed please email: plantexports@mpi.govt.nz
- The processing facility that processes these logs for export to Australia must have MPI approved procedures in place to ensure traceability of that timber to the forest from which it was sourced.
4.2 Exporters operating under an End Point Consignment Inspection (EPCI) by an IVA
- All timber must be supported by a certificate PDF [PDF, 9 KB], Word [DOC, 28 KB] from the forest manager of the log supplier to show that the timber was sourced from a FOA surveyed forest. A new certificate must be produced for each compartment harvested.
- The exporter must provide the verifying Independent Verification Agency (IVA) with the certificate that certifies the origin of the timber.
Note: New Zealand is free from Phytophthora ramorum.
All timber must continue to meet all other regular requirements.
5. Wood products - packaging
For the Australian wooden packaging import requirements, refer to:
6. Bark
Pine bark is prohibited from all sources unless the importer has obtained an import permit.
Import permit requirements may include:
- heat treated at 85 °C for at least 8 hours, (T9569)
- gamma irradiated at 25 kGray, (T9651), or
- fumigated with ethylene oxide under vacuum at 1500 g/m3 for 24 hours at 21 °C, (T9020).
