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Overview of requirements

If you store animal products for export (including dairy products), and those products are for human or animal consumption, you must:

  • register with the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) – or use the services of a registered exporter
  • meet the requirements of the Animal Products Act 1999
  • be familiar with the cold and dry stores code of practice, or industry standards
  • develop and operate under an approved risk management programme (RMP) – if required
  • comply with all requirements of the country you are exporting to.

Register as an exporter

If you're exporting as a business, you must register with MPI – or you can use the services of a registered exporter.

Register as an exporter

Meet the requirements of the Animal Products Act

Cold and dry storage of animal products is classified as "secondary processing" under the Animal Products Act (APA) 1999.

If you only store meat or meat products

If you only store meat or meat products, you can refer to the industry standard for storing and transporting meat:

Industry standard 9: Storage and transport [PDF, 79 KB]

Find out if you need an RMP

If you store dairy products, you need to operate under an RMP if those products:

  • will be exported – anywhere other than Australia, and
  • are intended for human or animal consumption.

If you store animal products other than dairy products, you need to operate under an RMP if those products:

  • will be exported, and
  • need an official assurance (export certificate).

Developing your RMP

You can develop your RMP by either:

  • using a Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) RMP template
  • writing your own RMP and have it independently evaluated.

Risk Management Programme (RMP) Template for Cold and Dry Stores, and Transport Operators [PDF, 1.2 MB]

Template RMPs don't need to be evaluated

If you use one of the RMP templates, you don't need to get an independent evaluation of your RMP. You can find out more about this in the waiver document.

Waiver of the requirement to provide a copy of an independent evaluation report [PDF, 113 KB]

However, you'll need to get your RMP evaluated if you:

  • write your own RMP, or
  • write your own module and add it to the RMP template (for example, to add extra processes or activities).

Find out whether a product needs an official assurance

If you're not sure whether your animal product needs an official assurance, you can use our online search to find out:

Overseas market access requirements (OMARs) search

These notices have more information about the requirements relating to official assurances:

Animal products notice: Official assurances – Specifications for dairy material and dairy products

Animal products notice: Official assurances – Specifications for animal material and animal products

Meet destination country requirements

The country where the product is being sold may also have storage requirements that apply to you. You can find these in the Overseas market access requirements (OMARs) for each commodity and country, or you can ask your exporting agent.

Search OMARs by country/market: Animal products, wine, and organics

Who to contact

If you have questions about:

MPI business units