Animal Health Australia > Programs and Projects > Emergency Animal Disease Preparedness Program

EAD Response Agreement

The Emergency Animal Disease Response Agreement (“the Agreement”, in short: “EADRA”) is a contractual arrangement that brings together the Commonwealth, state and territory governments and livestock industry groups to collectively and significantly increase Australia's capacity to prepare for, and respond to, emergency animal disease (EAD) incursions. The EADRA is a world-first initiative, and Animal Health Australia is its custodian.

EAD Response Agreement and Schedules (996 KB)

All signatories have agreed to work collectively to reduce the risk of EAD incursions and share the approved costs of EAD responses. The EADRA also provides an innovative framework to combine multiple dynamic approaches to combating EADs:

1. Participation and Cooperation

All parties commit to the participation in an EAD response through informed and empowered representatives who cooperate to determine and direct the response. The unique approach taken in the Response Agreement is that it facilitates effective participation across state and territory boundaries and gives each participating industry a ‘real voice’.

2. Risk Management

While the Agreement ensures that funds to combat an EAD are made available and the costs shared among the beneficiaries of the response, the Agreement also commits parties to take all reasonable steps to minimise the risk of an EAD occurrence in the first place, for example, through the development and implementation of biosecurity plans (see link below).

3. Detection and Response

All Parties commit to maintaining the capability to ensure early detection of, and an effective response to, an EAD. The National Animal Health Performance Standards are the basis for benchmarking the capability of parties in areas such as surveillance, diagnosis and response.

4. Cost Sharing

All parties commit to contribute to funding the eligible costs of responding to an EAD by which they are affected. The costs to be shared are identified under the Agreement. Some of the rules around cost sharing can be summarised as follows:

Cost sharing is aimed at equitable contributions from all parties, commensurate with their respective resource base and status as a beneficiary of the response.
The total amount of response costs that government and industry parties share in the event of an EAD is capped, depending on the size of the affected industry.
EADs are categorised according to the impact they can have on livestock industry production (through, for example, international trade losses, domestic market disruptions and production losses), human health and the environment. An EAD’s category determines how much of the response costs are borne by affected industries in aggregate, and how much by governments.
A party that is not a beneficiary of the response is not required to share the costs, but neither does it have a say in determining the response.
The compensation costs included in cost sharing under the Agreement are separate from the compensation payable to an owner under state or territory legislation, which may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

A set of EADRA Business rules - Guidelines for Accounting and Cost Sharing under the EAD Response Agreement (268 KB) are provided to participating agencies for use when submitting claims of eligible costs These guidelines have been issued under the authority of the signatories to the Agreement and may be amended or varied at any time with the agreement of the parties. Primarily, the guidelines are designed to provide all affected parties with an overview of the role of Animal Health Australia and the expectations surrounding the process of submitting, checking, approving and settling claims under the EADRA.

5. Training

Training is an essential part in ensuring the efficacy of a response. The EADRA provides for the training of relevant personnel.

6. Maintenance of the EADRA

The EADRA was signed in 2002 and has been used in a number of real and simulated responses. When using the EADRA, various parties have identified areas where the Deed could be improved. Animal Health Australia regularly holds workshops to address these issues and amend the Deed where necessary. Alternatively, the preparation of supporting guidance documents is undertaken.

Further Information

Page Updated: 25 August 2010