Changes

Effective immediately, import conditions are in place to permit the following tissue culture commodities to undergo optional in-vitro multiplication at an Approved Arrangement (AA) site operating under a Class 6.7 Process Management System (PMS) approval:

• Vitis spp. imported as tissue cultures
• Rubus spp. imported as tissue cultures
• Fragaria spp. imported as tissue cultures

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has approved the following PMS AA facility to manage in-vitro multiplication of Vitis, Rubus and Fragaria tissue cultures:

These conditions permit provisionally screened plant samples to be tissue cultured under biocontainment at an AA site, while parent plants complete post-entry quarantine (PEQ) disease screening and/or testing at the Australian Government PEQ facility in Mickleham, VIC.

• All clones propagated from imported plants remain subject to biosecurity control, until PEQ is completed for parent plants to verify that imports have met all import conditions.
• If a biosecurity concern is detected during the PEQ period, the biosecurity risk must be managed within the parent plant and all in vitro cultures derived from the infected line, consistent with standard biosecurity risk management practices.

Import permits:
Current import permits will not be updated to reflect this change, any permit holders interested in optional in-vitro multiplication will have to apply for a variation to include any additional species.

Who does this notice affect:
Importers of Vitis spp., Fragaria spp. and Rubus spp., customs brokers and departmental staff.

Further information:
Contact Plant Import Operations at imports@aff.gov.au (please include ‘Plant T2’ within the subject line) or phone 1800 900 090.