Minimum documentary and import declaration requirements policy

Invoices are only required to be endorsed and meet the other overarching documentary and letterhead requirements when specific requirements or statements are being produced, provided or stated on an invoice to meet biosecurity or imported food requirements, including:

• Import conditions on an import permit, Imported Food Inspection Scheme (IFIS) requirements and where a BICON case states it can be provided on an invoice.
• Mosquito declarations, new and unused field-testing declarations and lot codes.

Invoices are not required to be endorsed when:

• Providing a standard description of goods
• Validating numerical links between other consignment documentation and/or the import declaration.

Please note, as per the policy definition, section 1 and section 4.2.1, there are some minimum requirements that relate to all commercial documentation which must be met on all invoices.

Lot codes can be provided as either:

• A standalone ‘Lot Code List’, which is an international trade document, providing the overarching requirements (refer to section 1 of the policy) such as endorsement are met. This endorsement must be by a company employee but does not need to specify the company title or position.
• Part of other types of commodity-related documentation, including but not limited to an invoice (section 4.2.1), packing list (section 4.2.2) or a manufacturer’s declaration (section 4.6) and must meet the requirements for that document type. For example, if lot codes are presented on a manufacturer’s declaration, then the document must be endorsed by a company employee and include their name and company title.

The policy requires (section 1.6) that documents longer than one page must include a consignment-specific link on all pages of the document together with an endorsement on the final page of the document, following the information that is being endorsed.

Linking multiple pages of a document by page number only does not meet this requirement.

Note: Where an international standard relating to the issuance of veterinary, government or phytosanitary certification does not explicitly require a link on each page of a multiple page certificate, the department will accept the document linkage on the first page of the certificate.

If a previously issued document requires amendments or alterations for any reason, then the alterations must be appropriately endorsed to meet section 1.5 of the policy.

Amendments or alterations can only be made by an employee of the same company that issued the document and must be endorsed by that employee with a company stamp or seal signed by the company employee (including printed name) applied adjacent to the alteration.

For government certificates, amendments can only be made by an authorised government official from the government department that issued the certificate and must be endorsed by that government employee with a government stamp or seal signed by a government employee (including printed name) applied adjacent to the alteration.

If an amendment or alteration is made and endorsed as above, then the date of issue would remain the same as it was still issued on the original date.

If a document cannot be appropriately amended to meet this requirement, then the document issuer may choose to issue a new document with the correct information or changes required and a new date of issue, while meeting all other requirements under the policy.

Documents required by the department that are not covered by international standards must be provided on the issuing company’s letterhead as per section 2.1.1. The letterhead must include the company’s name and physical address. The letterhead is not required to be in English but must be in English characters.

While letterheads may traditionally appear at the top of a page, the policy does not require a particular placement. The letterhead needs to be easily identifiable as a letterhead and not in the body or text of a document.

The only acceptable substitute for a letterhead is the issuing company's stamp or seal which also must include the company’s name and physical address.

Section 6.3 of the policy outlines that a document such as an invoice, packing list or lot code list must be provided that references each line in the import declaration to each type of goods on the commercial documentation.

When undertaking a document assessment, biosecurity officers may exercise their powers under the relevant legislation to ask questions or request documentation to clarify linkages between the lines on the entry and the documentation provided, or to clarify answers declared for profile questions.

The policy stipulates that all documents must identify the date the document was issued including the day, month and year, but it does not require the date to be presented in a specific format.

Some documentation may list the date of issue as month, day, year (MM/DD/YYYY) which is acceptable. However, if 5 February 2024 is presented as 02/05/2024 for example, it may be unclear which is the day and month. In these cases, consideration should be taken of options like changing to the date format or placing MM/DD/YYYY alongside the date of issue, ensuring the format can be clearly interpreted.

Packing declarations must be issued by either:

• the exporter who packed the goods into the container (or consignment for LCL), or
• the supplier who packed the goods into the container (or consignment for LCL), or
• packer who packed the goods into the container (or consolidated LCL consignments into the container).

Our definition of a ‘packer’ is an entity who packs the goods into a container or observes (watches) the container being packed for export. In some instances, the packer may also be the supplier or exporter of the goods. The important thing to note is that the entity that packed the goods into the container/consignment is the one issuing the packing declaration.

The intent of this requirement is for assurance that the party issuing the document has actual oversight of the packing and can attest to the statements on the packing declaration.

If the packing declaration is being issued from a country other than the country where the goods were packed and/or exported from, a biosecurity officer may request to see evidence or an explanation detailing how that entity in another country packed the goods or observed the packing.

No, this is not a requirement for packing declarations. As per sections 4.5.2 and 4.5.5, the name and signature of the employee is required on packing declarations.

Sections 4.5.2 and 4.5.5 require that a packing declaration include the name and signature of the employee of the company issuing the declaration. The policy does not define what is required of a name, however, the purpose of this requirement is to enable the individual person who endorsed the document to be identifiable. There is no requirement in the policy for a printed name to appear in English as per section 1.4.

It is not a requirement for an LCL packing declaration to include a container cleanliness statement as per the Non-commodity information requirements policy.

If a client is providing a packing declaration for an LCL consignment, to avoid unnecessary delays and potential non-compliance questions, we ask that they ensure the cleanliness statement is not present on the document.

Previously packing declaration templates on the department’s website clearly outlined that if the packing declaration was being used for anything other than an FCL/X consignment then the cleanliness statement was to be removed. This requirement has not changed. To assist industry we have created and published LCL specific packing declaration templates on our acceptable documentation templates webpage without the cleanliness statement present.

The templates we provide continue to be optional for industry to utilise. They are designed as a guide on how to meet the policy.

They are not required to be used by industry as long as the declaration meets the requirements of the Minimum documentary and import declaration requirements policy and the Non-commodity information requirements policy.

Declarations on an old version of our templates or with an old departmental name continue to be acceptable, as per the above.

The policy stipulates in section 1.8 that all documents must identify the date the document was issued including the day, month and year. The policy does not explicitly state when a packing declaration should be issued in relation to the goods being packed or exported. A packing declaration should be dated on the day the declaration is issued and endorsed.

We would expect the declaration would be issued and dated after the packing of the container/consignment has occurred so that the declarations can be attested to. The policy does not specify if the date of issue needs to be before or after the date of export.

Vessel and voyage number can be used in lieu of a date when there is no date of issue on the document, as per section 1.8, for consignment specific packing declarations.

Vessel and voyage can also be used as a numerical link in conjunction with an acceptable consignment-specific link on other documents. If vessel and voyage is the only consignment link on a packing declaration, another document for the consignment must include the vessel and voyage number and an acceptable consignment-specific link (see section 1.9 for more information).

Vessel and voyage cannot be used in lieu of a date for annual packing declarations, as they are valid for 12 months from the date of issue (as per section 4.5.3) and intended to cover a number of consignments over the year.

If you are unable to obtain this evidence, or you are unable to obtain a packing declaration that meets requirements, you have the option to direct the consignment for onshore management as per the Non-commodity Cargo Clearance BICON case. If you are an accredited person under approved arrangement class 19.1 you can use the appropriate concern code (e.g. PDIN or PDTG) when lodging your import declaration, as per the Requirements and conditions for approved arrangement class 19.1: non-commodity for containerised cargo clearance policy, to direct the consignment for onshore management.