Date of issue: 24 August 2026
Attention
Sheepmeat and goatmeat exporters, meat industry members, and people and groups with an interest.
Purpose
This Industry Advice Notice (IAN) is to advise stakeholders that public consultation has opened on proposed amendments to the Export Control (Tariff Rate Quotas–Sheepmeat and Goatmeat Export to the European Union and United Kingdom) Rules 2021 (Sheepmeat and Goatmeat Rules) through a Have Your Say survey.
Summary of Key Points
- Public consultation via the departments Have Your Say platform has commenced on proposed amendments to the Sheepmeat and Goatmeat Rules.
- The proposed amendments include:
- reserving a portion of the Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement (A-UKFTA) access amount to be accessed on a first-come, first-served basis during the quota year by exporters who do not have a TRQ entitlement for that quota year, while continuing to allocate the remaining quota as TRQ entitlements to exporters
- introducing penalties where less than 90% of an exporter’s allocation is used, transferred or returned during the quota year, aligning with existing WTO Sheepmeat and Goatmeat Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) arrangements
- bringing forward the annual reclaim and reallocation process from 1 November to 1 October, giving exporters more time to use reallocated quota before the end of the quota year– this amendment is to apply to United Kingdom (UK) FTA–eligible meat, European Union (EU)-eligible meat and UK WTO–eligible meat, because the same timeframe applies across all 3 TRQs.
- An information sheet is provided in the survey to outline the proposed improvements in more detail for the Sheepmeat and Goatmeat Rules.
- The Have Your Say survey will close on 11 September 2026.
Background
- The department routinely reviews the Export Control Act 2020 (the Act) and the rules made under the Act (the Export Control Rules) to ensure the legislative framework supporting Australia’s agricultural exports remains relevant and working as intended.
- The department has identified opportunities to improve the administrative and regulatory arrangements for the Sheepmeat and Goatmeat TRQ arrangements.
- We will use the feedback to make sure the Rules continue to meet the needs of Australian exporters and support the export of our agricultural goods.
Further information
If you have questions regarding this IAN, please contact the Quota Administration team via quota.admin@aff.gov.au.
Leah Cutriss
A/g Assistant Secretary
Meat Exports Branch
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
The information provided in this advice is current at the time of writing and is intended for use as guidance only and should not be taken as definitive or exhaustive. The Commonwealth endeavours to keep information current and accurate, however, it may be subject to change without notice. Exporters are encouraged to verify these details with their importers prior to undertaking production/exports. The Commonwealth will not accept liability for any loss resulting from reliance on information contained in this notice.