AusTreat pre-border biosecurity treatment provider scheme

The Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has introduced AusTreat, a new pre-border biosecurity treatment provider scheme. AusTreat has replaced the Offshore BMSB Treatment Providers Scheme and sets the conditions for the regulation of pre-border biosecurity treatment providers.

AusTreat increases the department’s coverage and flexibility in responding to biosecurity risk through increased assurance of offshore treatments, reducing intervention at the border and eliminating the need to develop new pest specific schemes.

Treatment providers approved under AusTreat will be listed on the List of treatment providers.

Please note: AusTreat will not replace the Australian Fumigation Accreditation Scheme (AFAS) as we administer AFAS with other government agencies under bilateral government-to-government arrangements.

Take a look at the ‘Introduction to AusTreat’ placemat below for an overview of the scheme and changes.

AusTreat Requirements

The scheme sets out the minimum registration and compliance requirements for treatment providers located outside of Australia.

Summary of key differences between AusTreat and the Offshore BMSB Treatment Providers Scheme

• AusTreat is not pest or pathway specific. Instead, treatment providers register to conduct multiple treatment types (heat treatment, methyl bromide fumigation, sulfuryl fluoride fumigation) for multiple pests.
• Registration lasts for a 3-year period. Previously registration was renewed on a yearly basis.
• All treatment certificates, record of treatment and other treatment data must be submitted into our treatment certificate portal, increasing assurance and improving clearance times for compliant treatments.

Note: For information specific to Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB), please refer to the Seasonal Measures for Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) webpage and the Guidance factsheets for conducting BMSB Treatments.

Treatment methodologies

All treatments must comply with the relevant treatment methodology from the below list:

• Methyl bromide fumigation methodology
• Sulfuryl fluoride fumigation methodology
• Heat treatment methodology.

The methodologies are available on the department’s website at Methodologies and documents for biosecurity treatments.

Registering under AusTreat

Applications to register to be an approved treatment provider under AusTreat are open for new and renewing treatment providers.

To be considered for registration under AusTreat, a treatment provider must submit an application to the department. 

The treatment provider must complete the application in English and supporting documentation must also be in English. If the original documentation is not written in English, both the original version and an English translated version must be provided.

If requested by the department, the treatment provider must participate in compliance management activities as part of the registration application.

Treatment providers must renew their AusTreat registration every 3 years, up to 6 weeks prior to expiry to ensure the application is processed before the expiration date. 

Note: Treatment companies with multiple company branches/locations that operate independently must submit separate applications for each branch.

Please see the application forms below.

Information Sessions

We held information sessions to provide details about AusTreat.

Copies of the presentation from the recent information sessions are available below.

Useful links

Pre-border Biosecurity Treatment Providers

Pre-border Treatment Schemes

Methodologies and documents for biosecurity treatments

Australian Biosecurity Import Conditions (BICON)

Entity Identifier (AEI)

Seasonal measures for Brown marmorated stink bug

Contact us

For further information regarding AusTreat, please contact the Offshore Treatments Team.