WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/GEN/284
5 October 2001
(01-4852)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
DEVELOPMENT OF A BIOSECURITY STATEGY FOR NEW ZEALAND
Submission by New Zealand
1. The New Zealand Government is developing a "Biosecurity Strategy for New Zealand".  The
strategy will aim to provide direction and guidance for all agencies involved in biosecurity, and to
gain agreement on areas of priority for biosecurity activities.  The strategy is to be developed in an
open and participatory manner, with input from the range of stakeholders and from the general public.
2. As a first step, an "issues paper" has been developed which contains about 400 issues
identified by government biosecurity agencies and working groups of stakeholders from sectororganizations and interest groups.  This paper forms the basis of the nation-wide public consultation
process to be held from October to December 2001.  The consultation process will involve a national
hui, workshops, public meetings, biosecurity forums and specially convened issues groups.
3. The purposes of the nation-wide consultation are to:
(a) inform regional stakeholders and the public about the strategy development process;
(b) ensure that all issues are identified;
(c) generate a range of approaches to dealing with issues;  and
(d) invite stakeholders (including the public) to contribute to strategy development.
4. Following completion of these consultations, a draft biosecurity strategy will be developed
and released for public consultation from May to July 2002.  It is expected that the finalized
biosecurity strategy will be launched in December 2002 and implemented during 2003.
5. The issues paper has been posted on the web site (http://www.biostrategy.govt.nz) and
distributed to biosecurity stakeholders following the launch of the project on 27 September 2001.
Submissions on this paper will be accepted until 31 December 2001.  Further information about the
development of the strategy can also be found on the web site.
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