THE Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment is proposing regulatory changes to improve export bulk vessel survey and inspection practices.

The proposed changes will provide greater assurance to the department, the shipping industry, and Australia’s grain exporters that bulk vessels comply with agricultural export legislation.

The department has been collaborating on these changes with the Australasian Institute of Marine Surveyors (AIMS) and representatives of Australia’s shipping and grain export industries.

The department is seeking preliminary feedback on the proposed changes up until 12 September. This feedback will help inform an additional formal public consultation process, which is scheduled for late September 2021.

Two key changes that are proposed to come into effect from 1 November 2021 are:

  1. Ensuring all bulk vessel inspection authorised officers (BVI AOs) record their BVIs using helmet-mounted video recording devices.

    2. It is proposed that BVI AOs or their employers will be responsible for:

    • purchasing required equipment listed on the department’s webpage;
    • storing recorded video footage for up to 2 years for audit purposes;
    • making recorded footage available to the department on request.
  2. Ensuring all qualified marine surveyors are accredited under the new Accredited Grain Surveyor Assurance (AGSA) scheme to survey and certify bulk vessels.

It is proposed that:

  • AIMS will administer the scheme.
  • AIMS members and non-members will be able to apply.
  • There will be an annual accreditation fee ($250) and additional application cost ($90) per marine surveyor.
  • Accreditation will need to be renewed annually (approximately in September/October).
  • Exporters and shipping companies must source accredited marine surveyors to perform bulk vessel surveys. BVI AOs will need to confirm a marine surveyor’s accreditation. The AIMS website will provide a publicly available list of accredited marine surveyors and surveyors will be issued identification cards.
  • The qualification requirements will be updated to better reflect the qualifications and experience of existing marine surveyors in Australia that perform bulk vessel surveys for plant exports.

Feedback can be provided directly by emailing: plantexportreform@awe.gov.au. Preliminary feedback closes at 11:59PM AEST on Sunday, 12 September 2021.