26 April 2017
Who does this notice affect?
The following information is relevant to Biosecurity Industry Participants (BIPs) and accredited persons operating under the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources Automatic Entry Processing for Commodities (AEPCOMM) Approved Arrangement.
This information also affects Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) that deliver the unit of competency TLIX5054: Comply with Biosecurity Border Clearance.
What will change?
It is anticipated that changes related to phase 1 of the AEP reform will be rolled out on May 6, 2017. This means that new commodities added to the AEPCOMM Approved Arrangement will be available to process under AEPCOMM from this date.
To support this, a draft version of the Requirements for approved arrangement class 19.2: automatic entry processing for commodities document (v4.0) is now available on the Automatic Entry Processing (AEP) Reform page on our website. Similarly, BICON has been updated to reflect the new commodity pathways included in AEPCOMM. Please note accredited persons should still refer to the current Requirements document (v3.0) when using AEPCOMM until implementation of the changes.
To assist Accredited Persons for the AEPCOMM Approved Arrangement in their knowledge of the changes, they must complete Continued Biosecurity Competency (CBC) activity 17-18/02 by the 31 July (please refer to the Training and accreditation for approved arrangements web page for details). The department encourages accredited persons to familiarise themselves with the changes by completing the CBC activity prior to lodging commodities using AEPCOMM.
Delivery of CBC activity 17-18/02 will be coordinated by the Customs Brokers & Forwarders Council of Australia (CBFCA) and Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA).
The department has added Community Protection (CP) Profile questions to some of the new commodity tariffs on AEPCOMM to assist in managing biosecurity for certain import pathways. These include: unfinished timber (tariffs 4407, 4409, 4418) to scope out products from the family Myrtaceae and from pathogen risk species; and milling products, to scope out stock feed.
The department will conduct verification activities for the phase 1 changes and may request documentation from BIPs if required. This will not attract fees and will be outside the standard import declaration audits.
Further information
Please contact the Broker Engagement team if you have any questions.