Our roles and priorities
Section 13 of the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991sets out twenty functions ascribed to FSANZ. The primary function is to develop and review food standards. Other functions include promoting consistency between domestic and international food standards and, in consultation with States and Territories, coordinating the monitoring, surveillance and enforcement of activities relating to food available in Australia.
Section 18 of the Act describes the objectives of the agency in ‘developing or reviewing food regulatory measures and variations of food regulatory measures'. In descending order of priority, FSANZ’s objectives are:
- the protection of public health and safety; and
- the provision of adequate information relating to food to enable consumers to make informed choices; and
- the prevention of misleading or deceptive conduct.
In addressing these objectives, we must also ‘have regard’ to a number of issues:
- the need for standards to be based on risk analysis using the best available scientific evidence;
- the promotion of consistency between domestic and international food standards;
- the desirability of an efficient and internationally competitive food industry;
- the promotion of fair trading in food;
- any written policy guidelines formulated by the Council for the purposes of this paragraph and notified to the Authority.
These are the main legislative requirements governing FSANZ. The need to protect the health and safety of the community through a safe food supply permeates all of our assessment processes, our decision making and our planning. It shapes our prioritisation model and the strategic directions set by the Board. It is the key measure by which our performance is judged.
FSANZ’s goal is to achieve a high degree of consumer confidence in the quality and safety of food produced, processed, sold or exported from Australia and New Zealand; and an effective, transparent and accountable regulatory framework within which the food industry can work efficiently.
Within this legislative framework, we work within a tripartite food regulatory system, the other two areas being the development of food policy and the implementation and enforcement of food standards. We are bound by food policy guidance handed down by the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council and must develop standards that are consistent with this guidance.We must also review our regulatory decisions at the request of States, Territories or the Australian or New Zealand Governments, through the Ministerial Council.
Our approaches and decisions, therefore, are under continual scrutiny. This scrutiny ensures that our work does not deviate from our legislative responsibilities.
Stakeholders and regulatory partners
The first step in being accountable to stakeholders is to ensure that our roles are fully understood. This is particularly important in our dealings with our regulatory partners – national and State/Territory agencies – which use the provisions of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Codeto ensure the safety of the food supply in the various jurisdictions.
During the year, our Executive team maintained a program of engagement with peak industry organisations, senior officers in government agencies, CHOICE and other consumer groups, public health associations and community activists. The emphasis of this interaction was to not only explain our approaches to particular issues, but also to emphasise the limitations on FSANZ for what it could and could not do.
Our aim was to help stakeholders to more accurately identify which components of the food regulatory system could be of most assistance to them. We intend to continue this awareness program into 2009-10.
Australian States and Territories
Under a 1991 Inter-Governmental Agreement between all Australian governments, the States and Territories adopt, without variation, food standards recommended by the National Food Authority (now FSANZ). The purpose of the 1991 agreement was to consolidate responsibility for developing food standards in one specialist agency and to ensure the uniformity of food standards across all States and Territories, which continue to have primary responsibility for enforcing food laws.
The Australian Government and the States and Territories became signatories to this Agreement on 3 November 2000. The Australian Parliament passed an amendment Act setting up these new arrangements – including the creation of Food Standards Australia New Zealand – on 1 July 2002.
More recently the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Amendment Act 2007, proclaimed on 1 July 2007, resulted in changed requirements for applicants and shortened timelines for FSANZ to process Applications. These new arrangements came into effect on 1 October 2007.
New Zealand
On 1 July 1996, a Treaty between Australia and New Zealand to establish a single joint food-standards system came into force. The joint arrangement aims to harmonise food standards between the two countries, reduce compliance costs for industry and help remove regulatory barriers to trade in food.
The Treaty does not cover maximum residue limits, food hygiene provisions and export requirements relating to third country trade. It also contains provisions that allow New Zealand to opt out of a joint standard for exceptional reasons relating to health, safety, trade, environmental concerns or cultural issues. In such cases, FSANZ may be asked to prepare a variation to a standard to apply only in New Zealand.
The Treaty to develop joint food standards requires that FSANZ and the New Zealand Minister of Food Safety conclude a funding and performance agreement. The performance agreement details the services FSANZ is to provide and includes quarterly performance reporting, details of New Zealand’s contribution and the payment schedule. Technical aspects of the Treaty are presently being reviewed by the governments of Australia and New Zealand.
Requests under FOI legislation
In 2008-09, FSANZ received one request for access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982. That request was transferred to the Department of Health and Ageing as the subject matter of the documents was more closely connected with that Department’s functions .
FSANZ Service Charter
Our Service Charter is a document that sets out the service standards by which we wish to be judged and describes complaints procedures that can be used by individuals or organisations if they believe we have not met those standards. We received no such complaints in 2008-09.
Annual Report Home | 
Corporate governance arrangements | 
Appendices