Transitional Facilities

Transitional facilities are approved for holding, inspection, treatment or destruction / disposal of uncleared risk goods imported into New Zealand.

Containment facilities are places approved for holding organisms (plants or animals) that should not, whether for the time being or ever, become established in New Zealand.

They operate under facility standards which details the minimum requirements for approval. If you want to move biosecurity risk goods between MAF approved facilities (including for export), you need to submit a transfer application. The application forms can be found in the Forms section of this website. Enter 'transfer' in the search field, and then click on the relevant application.

Getting a Facility Approved

All facilities are required by the Biosecurity Act (1993) (offsite link to www.legislation.govt.nz) to be approved. This section is intended to guide applicants through the facility approval process, and a flow chart is available.

Facility Approval Process Flowchart
Click to enlarge

To apply for your premises to become a MAF approved transitional/containment facility for sea containers and/or risk goods, facilities need to meet three basic requirements:

Forms

The following forms are required when applying for Transitional or Containment facility and Operator approval. These forms can be used for approvals under all MAFBNZ Facility Standards. Send signed and completed forms to your local MAF Biosecurity Inspector (BSI), and ensure your correct fax number is included.

Facility Operators and MAFBNZ Accredited Persons (MAF Accredited Person is applicable only for sea container facilities)

Every approved facility must have an approved Operator. This is the person who will have overall responsibility for the Transitional / Containment Facility.

The requirements for Operators of transitional facilities will soon be changing. MAFBNZ will soon require all Operators of Transitional Facilities for uncleared risk goods and sea containers to undertake a half-day biosecurity training course in order to be an approved Operator.

Sea container facilities must also nominate one or more MAFBNZ Accredited Persons responsible to check containers. For a person to become accredited, they must have undertaken and passed a MAFBNZ approved basic biosecurity awareness training course for the checking of containers. Please ensure that your facility has trained Accredited Person(s) available to avoid delays and extra charges in clearing your goods.

For AP/Operator training enquiries contact Nicola Olson on 07 927 5712 or seacontainer@maf.govt.nz

Standards

Facilities need to have met the specific physical and operational requirements of the MAFBNZ Standard(s) they are approved under. To this end, they need to submit to MAFBNZ an operational procedure (with site plan) to document how they meet the Standard requirements. These procedures are specific to your facility and should not just be a repetition of the Standard(s). An Operational Procedure guide only is available to assist you in writing the operational procedure applicable to both the Sea Container and 152.04.03F Standards.

The Operator and all relevant staff will need to read and understand the Standard(s) prior to applying. Please print and retain a copy of the Standard(s) in your file as reference material for you and your staff. Applicants can contact a local BSI if they are unsure which Standard(s) is appropriate to their facility.

If receiving Sea Containers into New Zealand the transitional facility must be approved to the following Biosecurity Standard:

If receiving imported risks goods into New Zealand the transitional facility must be approved to the following Biosecurity Standard:

If receiving both risks goods AND sea containers, the applicant should apply for both standards.

Note: Effective 1 February 2009, the above two standards will be replaced by the Standard for General Transitional Facilities for Uncleared Goods (BNZ-STD-TFGEN)

A local Biosecurity Inspector will contact you once we have processed your application to arrange a suitable time to inspect your facility. The processing of applications for approval will vary depending on the type of approval requested. At a minimum please allow one month.

Costs and Fees

MAFBNZ will charge on an hourly inspection, administration rate and travel costs for the approval and on-going monitoring of all transitional facilities. Additional costs will be incurred if further visits are necessary. To avoid further charges, please ensure all requirements and conditions are met at the first inspection visit. These charges will be based on the Biosecurity Act 1993 (offsite link to www.legislation.govt.nz) and the Biosecurity (Costs) Regulations Link to PDF document (161 KB) made under the Act.

Useful Links

  • Requirements for importing specific types of goods may be found in Import Health Standards.
  • If you wish to import live animals, including household pets, refer to Importing - Animals or Your Pets.
  • If you wish to import live plants, nursery stock or seeds for sowing, refer to Importing - Plants. Check the Biosecurity Index (offsite link to www1.maf.govt.nz) to see if the plant you intend to import is allowed into the country. If a species is not listed in the index, it means conditions for import into New Zealand have not been developed.
  • For new species, including genetically modified organisms, an application has to be made to the Environmental Risk Management Authority (offsite link to www.erma.govt.nz) (ERMA).
  • For plant quarantine and containment facilities a register of operators, systems and staff is available on Approved Organisations & Suppliers page.
  • If goods need to be treated at a transitional facility, you can apply for treatment supplier status and view the facility's requirements. Additional information is available in the Treatment and Treatment Providers section.

Page last updated: 12 January 2009

Relevant Resources