All containment facilities must be approved to the appropriate MAF/ERMA New Zealand Standard(s). Approved containment facilities can be indoor containment facilities such as research or commercial laboratories or glasshouses, or outdoor containment facilities such as zoos or field test sites.
Containment facilities must be approved to one or more of the MAF/ERMA New Zealand Standards depending upon the activities undertaken within the facility. All containment facilities are audited by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) on a regular basis.
The MAF/ERMA Standards
With MPI, we have set out the physical and operational requirements for a specific type of containment facility. These requirements are outlined in the MAF/ERMA New Zealand Standards.
The Standards are:
The MAF/ERMA New Zealand Standard: Facilities for Microorganisms and Cell Cultures: 2007a (pdf, 494 kb)The MAF/ERMA New Zealand Standard: Containment Facilities for Plants: 2007 (pdf, 411 kb)The MAF/ERMA New Zealand Standard: Transitional and Containment Facilities for Invertebrates (pdf, 135 kb)The MAF/ERMA New Zealand Standard: Containment Facilities for Vertebrate Laboratory Animals (pdf, 133 kb)The MAF/ERMA New Zealand Standard: Field testing of Farm Animals (pdf, 128 kb)The MAF/ERMA New Zealand Standard: Containment Facilities for Zoo Animals (pdf, 629 kb)
The Standards are also available from:
Physical Containment levels
Indoor containment facilities such as laboratories, glasshouses and animal facilities are approved to specific Physical Containment (PC) levels referred to as PC1, PC2, PC3 or PC4. These levels are arranged in order of increasing stringency of operational and structural requirements. The requirements are described in the Australian and New Zealand Standard 2243.3 (with any exemptions listed in the MAF/ERMA New Zealand Standards).
PC1 is the least stringent level, with PC4 being the most.
The Australian and New Zealand Standard 2243.3 can be bought from:
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