19 August 2022
Who does this notice affect?
This notice is of interest to importers, brokers, and biosecurity industry participants of:
- Breaded, battered, or crumbed (BBC) prawns from all countries; or
- Highly processed (HP) prawns from all countries
What has changed?
The department is incorporating BBC prawns and HP prawns from approved countries onto the Compliance Based Intervention Scheme (CBIS). This change is scheduled to take effect on 22 August 2022.
Compliant importers benefit from the CBIS through smoother clearance of goods at the border and reduced regulatory costs through reduced inspections based on a history of compliance.
The scheme benefits importers of these products who demonstrate consistent compliance with Australia’s biosecurity requirements with risk-based inspection rates:
- For BBC prawns, instead of 100% of consignment lines undergoing a seals-intact inspection to verify the goods, only a proportion of consignment lines are referred for a seals-intact inspection.
- For HP prawns, instead of 25% of consignment lines undergoing an inspection to verify the goods, a smaller proportion of consignment lines are referred for inspection.
The inspection rate increases if non-compliance is detected for BBC prawn or HP prawn consignment lines, respectively. Non-compliance could be during documentation assessment or when verifying the goods during an inspection. After a period of compliance, consignments will then requalify for a reduced rate of intervention.
The changes will not affect how consignments are lodged in the Integrated Cargo System (ICS) or third-party software. It is not anticipated that brokers will need to lodge consignments any differently.
Further information
More information on CBIS, which until now has been largely used for the importation of plant products, is available on the department’s CBIS webpage.
If you require further information, please email imports@aff.gov.au with ‘CBIS prawns’ in the subject line or contact Imports on 1800 900 090.
Biosecurity import conditions are available on the department’s Biosecurity Import Conditions database (BICON).