. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/SPS/N/AUS/288/Add.1 
10 September 2012  
 (12-4817) 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
Addendum 
  
The following communication, received on 31 Augus t 2012, is being circulated at the request 
of the Delegation of Australia. 
 
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Queen honey bees 
 The Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) has completed a policy review of the importation of queen honey bees.  Following completion of the policy review, imports of queen honey bees from a pproved countries will be able to resume under 
specific quarantine conditions, effective from 31 August 2012. 
 A draft policy review was issued on 29 Febr uary 2012 for a 60-day consultation period, 
which was extended and closed on 14 May 2012.  Comments were received from 13 stakeholders.  
 Importation of queen honey bees will be s ubject to the Quarantine Act 1908, and the 
application of sanitary measures as specified in the importation of queen honey bees:  Final policy review.  A copy of the final policy review is available at:  http://www.daff.gov.au/ba/memos .  The 
policy will be taken into account by decision makers  when considering import permit applications for 
queen honey bees in accordance with the Quarantine Act 1908 an d Quarantine Proclamation 1998 as 
amended, effective from 31 August 2012. 
 DAFF considered all of the stakeholder comme nts and the following changes were made to 
produce the final policy review:  
 Small hive beetle, American foulbrood a nd European foulbrood were removed as 
hazards of biosecurity concern from Chapter 6 of the importation of queen honey bees:  
Final policy review titled:  Requirements for the importation of queen honey bees. 
 The section on Australian emergency disease plans was rewritten to reflect the transfer of 
responsibility for honey bee pests and diseases from Animal Health Australia to Plant 
Health Australia. 
This addendum concerns a: 
[ ] Modification of final date for comments 
[X] Notification of adoption, publication or entry into force of regulation 
[X] Modification of content and/or scope of previously notified draft regulation G/SPS/N/AUS/288/Add.1 
Page 2  
 
  [ ] Withdrawal of proposed regulation 
[ ] Change in proposed date of adoption, publication or date of entry into force 
[ ] Other:    
Comment period:  (If the addendum extends the scope of th e previously notified measure in terms 
of products and/or potentially affected Members, a new deadline for receipt of comments should be 
provided, normally of at least 60 calendar days.  Under other circumstances, such as extension of 
originally announced final date for comments, th e comment period provided in the addendum may 
vary.)  
[ ] Sixty days from the date of circulation of the addendum to the notification and/or 
(dd/mm/yy) :  Not applicable 
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [ ] National Notification Authority, 
[ ] National Enquiry Point.  Address, fax num ber and e-mail address (if available) of other 
body: 
   
Text available from:  [ ] National Notification Au thority, [X] National Enquiry Point.  Address, 
fax number and e-mail address (if available) of other body: 
Texts are available at the following web addres s, or alternatively, from the Australian SPS 
Notification Point.  http://www.daff.gov.au/ba/memos  
 
The Australian SPS Notification Point 
GPO Box 858 Canberra  ACT  2601 Australia Fax:  +(61 2) 6272 3678 
E-mail:  sps.contact@daff.gov.au  
 
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