Overview
Australia’s economy relies on strong and open trade. Every day, we import a range of live animals, plants and animal and plant products.
We must determine if an animal, plant or animal/plant product is safe to import to Australia before importing it. This is because these imported goods can sometimes carry serious pests and diseases. We make this decision by assessing the biosecurity risks of the goods. For some goods, the risk assessment may be in the form of an import risk analysis.
Why we conduct import risk analyses
Import risk analyses are a key part of Australia’s biosecurity system. This system protects Australia against the entry, establishment and spread of pests and diseases.
Australia is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO's primary purpose is to ensure safe and open trade for the benefit of all its member countries. Under our WTO obligations, we must consider import requests from our trading partners.
However, we are entitled to maintain a level of protection we consider appropriate to prevent pests and diseases establishing in our country. We refer to this as the appropriate level of protection (ALOP). We express Australia’s ALOP as providing a high level of protection for human, animal and plant health aimed at reducing risk to a very low level, but not to zero. A zero-risk approach would mean Australia would have no imports at all.
Following an import request, we conduct an import risk analysis to determine if each good is safe to import. That is, we assess whether any biosecurity risks associated with the good can be managed to achieve Australia's ALOP.
If the risk cannot be managed effectively, we will not permit trade. If it can, we will mandate import conditions that importers must meet to import the good.
We may also conduct import risk analyses in response to new information, such as following technological advancements or when there is a change in risk to the importation of the product.
How we conduct import risk analyses
We use a formal method to conduct import risk analyses. This method is consistent with international guidelines. It includes a range of assessment tools, including a risk estimation matrix.
We assess the pests and diseases that an imported good can carry. Some of the factors we assess as part of the analysis include (but are not limited to) the:
- status of pests or diseases in the country of export and Australia
- likelihood pests or diseases will enter Australia on or in the imported product
- likelihood pests or diseases will establish and spread in Australia
- adverse consequences if pests or diseases were to establish in Australia.
Due to international trade rules, we can’t consider competition impacts.
In some cases, we conduct the analysis as a Biosecurity Import Risk Analysis (BIRA). This type of analysis is only conducted in rare circumstances where relevant risk management measures:
- have not been established, or
- exist for a similar good and pest or disease combination, but the likelihood and/or consequences of entry, establishment or spread of pests or diseases could differ significantly from those previously assessed.
The BIRA process involves more steps than our standard import risk analysis process, including:
- appointment of the Scientific Advisory Group to oversee the analysis
- publishing an issues paper before releasing a draft report
- publishing a provisional report before releasing the final report
- an option for stakeholders to request the Inspector-General of Biosecurity (IGB) to review the analysis.
These steps are prescribed under the Biosecurity Act 2015 and the Biosecurity Regulations 2016.
Who we involve when conducting an import risk analysis
We seek input from key stakeholders for all import risk analyses. This can include input from:
- Commonwealth and state or territory government agencies
- industry stakeholders
- the Scientific Advisory Group
- external experts
- the country of export.
Stakeholders can stay informed on all import risk analyses via our subscription service. The service includes ‘Biosecurity Risk Analysis Plant’ and ‘Biosecurity Risk Analysis Animal’ subscription options.