Requesting changes to facility certification​

Before you lodge your application

• Check you are authorised by the certification holder to apply to change a certification. We maintain a list of key contacts with authority for each certification holder. If you are not a key contact on this list, the application must state that you are authorised to request the changes. Further guidance on authorised contacts is outlined in the Guidance note for OGTR Contact Roles and Authorisation.
• Consult the facility certification guidelines and Guidelines for the Transport, Storage and Disposal of GMOs, as required.

If your organisation intends to conduct maintenance work in a low level facility (PC1 and PC2 excluding PC2 Large Scale), please review the following documents to ensure minimal disruption of your certified facility:

• Factsheet: provides information on the type of notification, if any, or
• Decision tree: provides outcomes based on your responses to the questions.

This maintenance work may require no notification, notification of minor works or an application to request changes to certification.

Request changes to certification

Application forms to request changes to a certification are available in the OGTR Online Services Portal. Please access the portal using the log in button at the top of the screen. Further details can also be found on our using the online services portal page. 

In the portal you can request the following changes to your facility certification:

• Varying your certification
  • Extend the period of certification
  • Change the area covered by certification
  • Change the facility type or level of certification
  • Upgrade the certification conditions to the current guidelines
  • Change the details in the facility description or other details
  • Request for a new exemption or to change an existing exemption or additional condition
• Suspend a certification
• Lift the suspension of a certification
• Surrender a certification

The following downloadable forms are also available to change your certification:

• Application to vary your certification
• Application to suspend a certification
• Application to lift the suspension of a certification
• Application to surrender a certification

To apply for a transfer of licences or certifications, please contact ogtr.applications@health.gov.au to discuss your requirements.

Notification of Minor Works

You can notify us of short-term changes to your facility certification for the purpose of conducting minor works, under certain circumstances. Prior to commencement of minor works and after completion of minor works, please submit a notification of minor works form.

After you’ve lodged your request

If you lodge an application through the OGTR Online Services Portal (the portal), you will receive an email receipt with a PDF of your application attached.

• You can view the OGTR ID associated to this application on the Applications in Progress tab of the Certified Facilities dashboard on the portal.
  • Please use this in any correspondence with us regarding the certification application.
• You may not make any alterations to a certified facility until a decision on your request has been made.

If you lodge an application using one of our PDF or Word forms, you will receive an acknowledgement email from the OGTR including any OGTR IDs associated with this application. You can also view these OGTR IDs on the Applications in Progress tab of the Certified Facilities dashboard on the portal.

If you lodge a notification of commencement/completion of minor works online, you will receive an acknowledgement email from the OGTR.

• You may commence minor works one working day after submitting the notification.
• You must notify us of completion of minor works without delay.
• You may commence work with GMOs after submitting the completion of minor works notification without further confirmation from us.

Time frames

There are no statutory time frames for actioning applications to modify certifications. However, we generally try to action:

• variations within 90 working days
• suspensions and lift of suspensions within 3 working days
• surrenders within 10 working days.

If you require an urgent suspension please contact us.

These time frames do not include weekends, ACT public holidays, and time spent waiting for applicants to respond to requests for additional information.