Advisory Board Communiqué—12 December 2013

The APVMA Advisory Board met on 12 December 2013 in Canberra.

Terms of reference

The Board provided final advice for a revised terms of reference, which focuses on the Board’s role to provide strategic advice on:

• emerging industry, community and international trends that may impact on the performance and functions of the APVMA
• opportunities for the APVMA CEO to improve APVMA performance, manage risks and adopt new ideas and directions
• initiatives identified by the CEO that would benefit from a different perspective or fresh insight
• ways to improve communication and engagement with the community, agricultural industries and the chemical industry.

Efficacy as a non-mandatory consideration

With the implementation of new legislation, from 1 July 2014, efficacy will no longer be a mandatory consideration in the assessment of agricultural and veterinary chemicals. The Board provided advice on a draft consultation paper that sets out a proposed framework for how the APVMA will assess whether or not efficacy will be a relevant consideration.

The APVMA as a contemporary world class regulator

The Board continued discussions about what is needed for the APVMA to develop as a contemporary world class agricultural and veterinary chemical regulator and ensure that industry and the Australian public have a high level of confidence in the APVMA. These discussions will continue in future meetings.

Future trends and topics

The Board also held preliminary discussions about how best to capture the long term trends that may impact on the future of the APVMA and understand the environment within which the APVMA operates. The Board also flagged future discussions around the APVMA’s role and approach to product quality in the market place, compliance, communication and engagement and antimicrobial resistance.

The next meeting will be in Canberra on 13 February 2014.