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 international countries with less stringent requirements. This impacts the industry’s ongoing commercial competitiveness in overseas markets.

This project will analyse the key compliance activities and processes undertaken by livestock exporters and the systems and processes on which they rely. This will be used to determine associated business costs and inform a best practice regulatory approach.

Objectives

The objectives of this project are 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.

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.