MPI seeks to increase trade opportunities and reduce the cost and complexity for importers and exporters, while maintaining the robust biosecurity regulatory compliance, that protects New Zealand’s biodiverse environment, agricultural sector, and economy. MPI Biosecurity is responsible for managing and maintaining the biosecurity regulatory standards for the importing of commodities into New Zealand and the export requirements for New Zealand businesses to export products to overseas market.

There are approximately 600 interrelated biosecurity regulatory documents that importers, exporters, industry partners and MPI staff rely on, to interpret the import or export requirements. This presents an opportunity to develop a centralized database or system that consolidates the biosecurity regulatory data and information, providing easy access for a range of users. Such a system would streamline operations within MPI, making regulatory compliance simpler for both internal teams and external stakeholders such as importers and exporters. Additionally, it would enable the integration of biosecurity data with other MPI systems and external business partners. This would be a foundational step toward creating a system that can evolve and adapt to future technology or business changes.

In 2022, MPI completed the first phase of the Product Import and Export Requirements (PIER) system for importers and exporters to search for a summary of import and export regulations, via a website. As we move into the next phase to further evolve and develop the system, this involves adding more detailed biosecurity regulatory data. A new approach is needed to make the complex data and information accessible for a wide range of user groups through a digital system, as well as maintaining and managing data changes.

We are interested in exploring alternative solutions that meets the project requirements and business needs.