Facility operators

Review the relevant facilities standard

Facility operator responsibilities and requirements are outlined in the relevant facilities standard and the Biosecurity Act.

Find the relevant facility standard

Biosecurity Act 1993 – NZ Legislation website

Find out training requirements

To become an approved operator of a transitional facility approved to the Standard for general transitional facilities for uncleared goods (TFGEN) or Post-entry quarantine for plants, you must complete and pass an MPI-approved training course. The course focuses on the responsibilities of an operator and their role in managing a facility.

Operators of other facility types currently don't have to complete the MPI-approved training course (although they are recommended to do so in some cases).

Get advice from MPI

Find out about getting a facility operator approved or training requirements, by contacting facility approvals.

• Email facilityapprovals@mpi.govt.nz

You can also get advice from your local biosecurity inspector.

Find your local MPI office or inspector

To be a transitional facility operator you must have completed and passed an approved operator training course and be approved by MPI.  

For information on locations and dates of training courses contact one of the approved training providers.

• Find approved operator training providers

You need to complete an Application for approval of an MPI transitional or containment facility and/or operator regardless of your type of facility.

• Download the application form for approval of a operator [PDF, 466 KB]

Checklist of required documentation

The application for approval form has a checklist of other required forms and documentation. 

Required forms:

• Trade Single Window (TSW) NZCS 224 form – client registration update – Customs website

Facility operator details

Make sure you provide the following operator details with your application for operator approval:

• copy of the operator certificate of training, if required
• operator's residential address, country of birth and phone number
• copy of operator's photo identification (such as driver's licence or passport).

Facility operating manual

You will need to provide a new or revised facility operating manual with your application for approval of an operator.

MPI provides guidance and templates in some of the facility standards to help you prepare your operating manual.

• Check the relevant facility standard

Separate guidance is available to help you prepare your operating manual for TFGEN and PEQ facilities.

• TFGEN operating manual guide and template [DOCX, 137 KB]
• PEQ example operating manual guide [PDF, 1.9 MB]

Send your completed documentation from step 3 to the national facilities approvals team.

• Email facilityapprovals@mpi.govt.nz

What happens next?

Only completed applications can be processed. Applications with all the required information will be placed into the queue for processing. The approval can take up to 6 weeks to process.

Incomplete applications

If you don't provide everything we need, we will contact you to request the missing information. We won't start processing your application until we receive the remaining information.

You will need to provide the remaining documentation to MPI within 10 working days from MPI's request.

If you don't provide everything we need, we'll decline your application and tell you why. You'll need to re-submit the entire application.

Operator approval costs

Fees and charges apply for processing all approvals of facility operators.

You will be charged:

• $1,244.00 (+GST) for processing an approval of a facility and facility operator
• $1,244.00 (+GST) for processing an approval of a change of operator
• $155.50 (+GST) per hour for inspection and auditing services.

Find out more about fees and charges