Administrative updates to Australian Government edible meat and meat product sanitary and halal certificate templates used for exports from Australia

Australia is replacing its current export documentation system, known as the Export Documentation System (EXDOC), with a new version called the Next Export Documentation System (NEXDOC). The change of system from EXDOC to NEXDOC will result in changes to official Australian Government export certificate templates for Australian agricultural goods.Australia’s export certification for edible meat and meat products such as meat, offal and meat products derived from cattle, buffalo, camels, goats, deer, sheep, pigs, horses and donkeys; wild game; rabbit; poultry and ratite (emu, ostrich) will soon transition to the NEXDOC system. This includes, where relevant, halal certification issued for halal meat and meat products.Australia has already transitioned a range of commodity specific export certification to the NEXDOC system including inedible animal products (October 2025), low-risk food items (May 2025), wool, skins and hides (November 2024), fish (September 2024), eggs (December 2023), honey (2022-2023), and dairy (May 2021).The planned changes do not affect bilaterally agreed information, conditions or attestations required by importing countries or the department’s regulatory controls over exports. However, there are minor changes to formatting and the location of some of this information on the export certificate template. Electronic certification (eCert) is not affected by the planned changes.The NEXDOC export certificate templates have unique Quick Response (QR) codes that provide consignment specific information border officials can use to confirm authenticity of the certificate in real-time. To verify the QR code, border officials scan the code through the official’s smart phone camera.Australia proposes NEXDOC export certificate and, where relevant, halal certificate templates will be issued for edible meat and meat products from 20 April 2026. There will be a transition period where both the EXDOC and NEXDOC certificate templates will be in use to allow for transit time (air and sea freight) to the port of destination.