Notification letter for Allium IRA

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Notification letter for Allium IRA

Letter as sent to stakeholders on 17 December 1998

98/3303

Dear Stakeholder

IMPORT RISK ANALYSIS ON ALLIUM SPECIES

I am writing to formally notify you that the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) is undertaking an import risk analysis (IRA) on the importation of Allium species (onions, garlic, shallots and related plants), including ornamentals, into Australia. The IRA will review existing import protocols, and conduct a risk analysis on new sources of imports, from the major production areas worldwide for all end uses (consumption, fresh or dried, processing, bulbs or seeds for planting).

AQIS will consider the proposal using the IRA process outlined in the recently published AQIS Import Risk Analysis Process Handbook Stakeholders may now, if they wish, offer information and comment on the priority which they consider should be accorded by AQIS to the proposal. Comments should be forwarded to the IRA Secretariat at the following address by close of business Friday 22 January 1999:

Import Risk Analysis Secretariat
Plant Quarantine Policy Branch
Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service
GPO Box 858
CANBERRA ACT 2601
Tel: +61 2 6272 5094
Fax: +61 2 6272 3307

If you wish to suggest inclusion of an additional stakeholder in our distribution list for this IRA, or if you wish to be removed from the distribution list, please provide details to the Import Risk Analysis Secretariat at the above address.

AQIS will be writing to you again in the near future to explain the proposed risk analysis process and to seek your views. I ask that peak industry groups who receive this letter keep their affiliates informed of this process.

Subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 and the Privacy Act 1988, all submissions received with respect to an import proposal will be publicly available and may be listed or referred to in papers or reports prepared on the proposal. If a request for anonymity does not accompany a submission, the respondent will be taken to have consented to the disclosure of his or her identity for the purposes of the Privacy Act. The contents of a submission will not be treated as confidential unless they are marked 'confidential' and they are capable of being classified as such in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act.

AQIS will establish a public file, containing the non-confidential stakeholder comments and technical documentation, at the commencement of each IRA. These files will be held at AQIS headquarters in Canberra and will be available to stakeholders during business hours for perusal and copying. Contact information for making appointments to gain access to public files is listed under the relevant Quarantine Policy Branch on the inside front cover of the AQIS Import Risk Analysis Process Handbook.

I look forward to your participation in the IRA process.

Yours sincerely

Brian Stynes
Assistant Director
Plant Quarantine Policy Branch

17 December 1998