O'Connor Damien: Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Amendment Bill — First Reading 
O'Connor Damien: Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:636;Page:6909] 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Acting Minister for Food Safety) 
: 
 I move  
That the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Amendment Bill be now read a first time. 
 This bill provides for changes to the principal Act the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Act 1997 to make it more effective and administratively efficient. It is well known that the agriculture and forestry sectors underpin New Zealand’s economy providing exports to a total value of around $17 billion a year over 60 percent of total merchandise exports and 45 percent of our total foreign exchange earnings. In turn agricultural compounds are a vital input into the primary production sector. In the year ended June 2006 the wholesale value of the New Zealand pesticides and veterinary medicines market was approximately $400 million. There are approximately 1000 pesticides and 2000 veterinary medicines registered for use in New Zealand. The range of agricultural compounds is extensive: plant and soil nutrients pesticides herbicides fungicides insecticides stock food pet food—basic feed and special supplements—and veterinary medicines themselves. 
In horticultural production—and the member my friend Mr Barker will be very interested in this—the use of pesticides is essential to securing market access for fresh export crops worth more than $2 billion a year by ensuring there are no unwanted pests in produce and preventing crop damage. Agricultural compounds are also used extensively in forestry and in pastoral sectors to manage pests and diseases and maintain plant health. Veterinary medicines are indispensable in maintaining the high quality and productivity of New Zealand’s commercial livestock population as well as ensuring the health and welfare of the large numbers of domestic and companion animals that form an integral part of our society. 
The use of pesticides and herbicides has increased only slightly in New Zealand over the past decade despite greatly increased output from the primary sector. In some sectors particularly horticulture there has been a noticeable reduction in use in response to worldwide consumer demands. Equally significant the types of substances used has changed to softer chemicals and biological insecticides which are less harmful to the environment. 
Although access to and use of agricultural compounds is vital to the New Zealand economy there are also risks if those compounds are used inappropriately or unwisely—risks to human health animal health agricultural exports and indeed our own biosecurity. The Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Act is part of the regulatory framework for managing these risks in conjunction with the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act the Biosecurity Act the Food Act and the Health Act. The Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Amendment Act was new legislation that came into force in July 2001 under this very good Government. The implementation of the Act has revealed a number of areas in which improvements could be made to the regulatory framework or where clarification is required in order to achieve the original policy intent. In addition changes to the organisational environment with the formation of the Food Safety Authority in July 2002 needed to be reflected in the regulatory environment. 
The overarching public policy objectives for the bill are to ensure firstly that risks arising from the use of agricultural compounds in New Zealand are managed efficiently and effectively under the Act; secondly that regulatory controls are appropriate for the degree of risk; and thirdly that business compliance costs are minimised. The proposals in the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Amendment Bill were made available for public consultation with the release of two public discussion papers. These were distributed to a wide range of stakeholders including manufacturers importers farming groups other users and of course Government departments. Eleven submissions were received in the 2002 consultation round and 17 were received in 2004. Most of those submissions were from organisations representing the interests of large numbers of individual stakeholders. Meetings were also held with a number of these organisations. Submissions received were considered when policy for the bill was developed and the proposed changes are generally supported. 
The bill provides for the closure of gaps that have been identified in the coverage of the Act in the areas of managing the public health effects of agricultural compounds and the regulation of all parts of the supply chain. This will be achieved by expanding the purpose of the Act to include managing risk to public health by specifying that the manufacture and import of agricultural compounds that do not comply with the Act are prohibited and by providing that codes of practice can be required for the distribution storage and transportation of agricultural compounds. There are mechanisms to ensure that there is no duplication of regulatory requirements with other agencies or other legislation operating in this area. 
The bill clarifies the statutory backing for arrangements in order to restrict the supply sale or use of certain products like prescription animal medicines or poisons such as 1080 or cyanide which are both very important for the agriculture industry. The bill restricts or controls the sale or use of certain products to authorised persons and the process for transfer of registration and provides that pet foods and stock foods are covered under the Act. 
The bill also proposes changes to improve the enforcement of the Act. It provides for the processes and powers relating to imports of agricultural compounds and veterinary medicine products to be aligned with those in the Biosecurity Act. The bill enables the director-general to recall non-compliant products or suspend product registration and it provides for a more appropriate and effective range in types of penalties for offences. The bill also provides for changes to improve the flexibility and administration of the Act by providing an alternative approval process for the import manufacture or use of agricultural compounds without registration in special circumstances; allows for recognition of persons or agencies to carry out specified activities or functions for the purpose of the Act; provides for the issue of certificates of compliance to assist exporters; and finally updates cost recovery provisions. 
 The bill also provides for removing or amending regulatory requirements that are in excess of those necessary to manage the risks or where the required degree of control can be achieved by non-regulatory or administrative measures. The bill also makes some minor technical changes. It removes provisions that have become redundant following changes in the operating environment and it updates terminology. There will be minimal additional compliance costs associated with this bill. For the majority of stakeholders the technical requirements will remain the same. This will mean very little change in costs. Indeed some of the amendments should reduce costs. 
While I have not spoken to each provision of this bill in any detail although I would be prepared to if I had more time I believe that I have indicated that the package of amendments represents a timely and necessary step forward in the effective and efficient administration of the regulatory regime for agricultural compounds with benefits for all stakeholders. I commend this bill to the House and will be proposing that it be considered by the Primary Production Committee.