Why do apples and pears have extra export requirements?
Apples and pears, collectively known as pipfruit, can be affected by pests and diseases. To stop the spread of pests and diseases, some overseas markets have extra phytosanitary (plant health) requirements.
These are on top of the steps you need to take to export any fresh fruit (covered in the importing countries phytosanitary requirements (ICPRs)).
What you need to do to export fresh fruit
Find the ICPR for your product
In most cases, the extra steps are part of an Official Assurance Programme (OAP). These are compulsory extra steps.
To export apples and pears to the United States of America (USA), you can choose to take part in a pre-clearance programme. Taking part in a pre-clearance programme can make it quicker for your product to be cleared when it arrives overseas.
Official Assurance Programmes
An OAP is an agreement between governments. It assures an overseas market that New Zealand exporters have met the market's phytosanitary (plant health) requirements.
We create OAP documents to let you know the:
- overseas market's requirements
- extra steps each party in the export chain needs to take.
Examples of extra steps are:
- having a growing site inspected for pests or diseases
- registering a growing site or storage facility.
The extra steps are over and above what you need to do for markets which don't have an OAP with New Zealand.
Guidance on OAP programmes [PDF, 199 KB]
