Request for inspection

What’s new

From 1 February 2023 the Biosecurity Portal will be the only way for most clients to book cargo import inspections with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. The portal is a streamlined process for booking import inspections that gives clients full control of requests including changes and cancellations.  This will result in the current email booking method no longer being supported from midnight on 31 January 2023 for most request for inspection bookings.

From 1 February any Request for inspection forms received via email that were eligible for portal submission will not be processed.

Who this will impact

Approved Arrangements, Custom Brokers, Manned depots, Freight Forwarders, and clients with low volumes of import inspection requests can book and manage their inspection request bookings using the Biosecurity Portal.  For these clients, from 1 February 2023, the current email channel will no longer be an option to request an inspection booking or make changes to bookings. It is important that you have transitioned to using the Portal for all bookings before 1 February 2023.

Who will not be impacted  

If you are a client who currently utilises the Biosecurity Portal to solely lodge and manage requests for import inspections, there is no change.

Clients where inspections are supported through bulk bookings such as high-volume specialist operators (HSVO) bulk bookings/manned depots (recurring bookings only) and specific inspections including virtual visual label inspections, plant export inspections and requests submitted with an airway bill are not impacted. For clients requesting these types of inspection bookings the current email request process will continue until the portal can support.

Support to make the move to the Biosecurity Portal can be found on the departments website or by contacting the department at:

Call 1800 900 090 (9am - 5pm AEDT Monday to Friday)

Email biosecurityportal@aff.gov.au

For more information on how to sign up with either access method please visit Set up secure access to the Biosecurity Portal.