. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/1071 
16 March 2011 
 (11-1294) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
AMALGAMATION OF THE NEW ZEALAND FOOD SAFETY AUTHORITY  
AND THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY 
 
Communication from New Zealand
 
 
 
 The following communication, received on 14 Marc h 2011, is being circulated at the request 
of the Delegation of New Zealand . 
 
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 1. The New Zealand Government announced on 25 March 2010 that the Ministry of Agriculture 
and Forestry (MAF) and the New Zealand Food Sa fety Authority (NZFSA) would be amalgamated. 
2. On 1 July 2010 the agencies became one legal de partment called the "Ministry of Agriculture 
and Forestry".  NZFSA became the "Food Safety" bran ch of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 
at that time. 
3. The reasons for the amalgamation were both general and specific: 
(a) general  in the sense that Ministers have been  focused on the fact that New Zealand 
has about 35 core government departments,  whereas the Organisation for Economic 
Co-operation and Development median is about 15;  and 
(b) specific  in the sense that the drivers of the amalgamation related to the extensive 
cross-overs in the work of the two agencies - especially in the fields of trade policy, 
bilateral trade negotiations, export market  access and conditions of access, standard 
setting, risk analysis and export certification. 
4. The amalgamation provided an opportunity to create a more efficient, single integrated 
organisation to strengthen the integrity and performan ce of the biological value chain, its contribution 
to New Zealand's economy, environment and social  wellbeing, and interface with both domestic and 
international stakeholders. 
5. On 1 February 2011, a new structure for MAF was introduced.  The large functional groups 
such as food safety and biosecurity have been re-o rganised into common plat forms for policy, science 
and risk analysis;  standard setting;  verificati on and compliance; enforcement and response functions. 
6. The integration of these functions into common platforms will ensure New Zealand's systems 
for science and risk-based sanitary and phytosan itary measures for imports and exports will be 
strengthened, and ensure that th e assessments for imports and exports are equally robust.  The 
integration will also ensure that, over time, as systems are aligned and improved, when 
interested/affected parties approach New Zealand on an issue that relates to both food safety and G/SPS/GEN/1071 
Page 2  
 
  biosecurity, they will be talking to one agency  operating with one strong science and risk-based 
system. 
7. On 10 March 2011, the New Zealand Government announced that the Ministry of Fisheries 
would be merged into the "new" Ministry of Agricult ure and Forestry.  This is scheduled to take place 
by 1 February 2012.  Note that the biosecurity a nd food safety functions for fish are already managed 
within MAF. 
8. SPS technical experts working with officials from what was NZFSA or MAFBNZ should 
continue to work with the key contact points they  had previously.  The br ands of MAF, NZFSA and 
MAF Biosecurity New Zealand are continuing until full re-branding work is undertaken. 
9. Those persons/organisations working with, or inte rested in the new agency that may have any 
concerns or questions should in the first instance consult the MAF website ( http://www.maf.govt.nz
). 
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