W.RDE.0005 - Economic Analysis of Regulation in the Livestock Export Industry

Summary

Livestock exporters must comply with substantial regulatory requirements set by the Australian Government. These are outlined in the Export Control Act 2020, the Export Control (Animals) Rules 2021, the Australian Standards for the Export of Livestock (ASEL) and the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS).

There are significant business costs (time, labour, regulatory fees) associated with ensuring compliance compared to other countries with less stringent requirements. This impacts the industry’s ongoing commercial competitiveness in overseas markets.

This project analysed the key compliance activities and processes undertaken by livestock exporters and the systems and processes on which they rely. This was used to determine associated business costs to inform a best practice regulatory approach that is based on outcomes and aligns effort to risk.

Objectives

The objectives of this project were to:

Identify the economic and business impacts of the regulatory regime and fee structures on the livestock export industry.

Map, identify and explore opportunities where the business costs incurred by livestock exporters could be better aligned to address risks and improve efficiency across the supply chain.

Provide recommendations and guidance on implementing reforms to ensure a modern, risk-aligned and cost-competitive regulatory and certification framework for the livestock export industry.

Key findings

The report identified several changes that could be made by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, as the regulator, to reduce compliance costs and improve regulatory efficiency including:

Reducing the frequency of changes to compliance documents, which leads to duplicative effort, and lack of clarity on requirements, processes and costs.

Providing further guidance, instructional material and templates to ensure accurate submission of documentation.

Ensuring compliance requirements are practically achievable, given technology, product, and ownership limitations.

Reducing reliance on third parties to provide information and complete documentation, which cannot always be verified accurately.

Making requirements specific to the supply chain pathway undertaken.

Ensuring the consistency of the implementation of the regulatory regime by Regional Vet Officers.

Considering the alignment of risk and compliance efforts, particularly for preparing livestock for pre-export quarantine.

Benefits to industry

This project will help exporters and regulators understand the systems and processes with the highest compliance costs, so current efforts to increase efficiencies can be targeted at the areas of greatest benefit while not compromising animal welfare or the risk of non-compliance.