The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry runs a Compliance-Based Intervention Scheme (CBIS) for the importation of selected animal commodities to Australia. For plants and plant products, please refer to the Plant CBIS webpage.
The CBIS improves the way we regulate imported goods by focusing our efforts and finite resources on areas of high risk. The CBIS also encourages compliance with our biosecurity requirements in both the documentation and intervention space.
The CBIS benefits importers who demonstrate consistent compliance with Australia’s biosecurity requirements for an eligible commodity with a risk-based rate of intervention at the Australian border, and thereby a smoother clearance of goods and reduced regulatory costs.
CBIS manages either biosecurity inspections and/or sampling and testing rates for an eligible commodity in the following way:
- After demonstrating a history of compliance for an eligible commodity on an eligible import pathway, an importers intervention rate will decrease.
- All goods will continue to undergo a document assessment, but only a randomised proportion of consignment lines will be selected for intervention, based on risk-based intervention rates.
- If non-compliance is detected, the intervention rate will increase. Non-compliance could be detected during documentation assessment or when verifying or testing the goods during an inspection.
- After a period of continuous compliance, consignments will then requalify for a reduced rate of intervention.
To qualify for risk-based intervention under the CBIS, importers and brokers will need to:
- import an eligible commodity under an eligible tariff and AQIS Commodity Code (ACC) if required
- lodge the entry in line mode
- answer any biosecurity profile questions accurately
- meet the initial document assessment, inspection and testing import conditions for the goods to demonstrate repeated compliance.
The following animal-based commodity pathways have been added to the scheme. Any animal goods or import pathways not listed here are not eligible for the CBIS and cannot be processed under CBIS arrangements.
Additional commodities and import pathways are currently being assessed for the CBIS, with the aim to add more products in the future.
For a list of eligible plant products please refer to the CBIS for plant commodities webpage.
Aquatics
| Commodity import pathways on the CBIS | Eligible tariff codes | Intervention managed under the CBIS |
|---|---|---|
| Returning Australian prawns, processed in a specific department approved facility in Thailand, for human consumption (specific permit-based import pathway) | 0306.167.00.34 ACC:AUST | Inspections and testing |
| Par-cooked breaded, battered or crumbed (BBC) prawn products for human consumption | 0306.16, 0306.17, 0306.35, 0306.36, 0306.95, 1604.2000.70, 1605.21, 1605.29, 1902.20 | Inspections |
| Highly processed prawn products (uncooked) for human consumption | 0306.16, 0306.17, 0306.35, 0306.36, 0306.95, 1604.2000.70, 1605.21, 1605.29, 1902.20 | Inspections |
| Dried prawns for human consumption | 1605.21, 1605.29, and 0306.95 | Inspections |
| Cnidarians, echinoderms, tunicates and poriferans that are fresh or have undergone minimal processing | 0307.9, 0308, 1604.19, 1604.20, 1605.54, 1605.6 | Inspections |
| Bagged aquatic feed that requires testing for animal (other than aquatic) derived material | 2309.9000.27 | Testing |
Feathers
| Commodity import pathway | Eligible tariff codes | Intervention managed under the CBIS |
|---|---|---|
| Feathers (loose feathers or manufactured articles made with feathers) that have been treated prior to export by one of the departments approved treatments | 6701, 0505.10 | Inspections |
Hides and Skins
| Commodity import pathway | Eligible tariff codes | Intervention managed under the CBIS |
|---|---|---|
| Tanned hides and skins, restricted to uses other than animal consumption, environmental purposes, growing purposes or veterinary therapeutic use | 4104, 4105, 4106, 4302 | Inspections |
| Untanned hides and skins from New Zealand, restricted to uses other than animal consumption, environmental purposes, growing purposes or veterinary therapeutic use | 4101, 4102, 4103, and 4301 | Inspections |
Qualifying for risk-based intervention rates
The scheme is automatically applied to eligible commodities and pathways through the department’s entry management systems, where importers that meet the criteria qualify for risk-based rates of intervention. Unless an ACC code is required for a commodity, brokers will not need to lodge consignments any differently.
To qualify for the risk-based intervention rate, importers must initially pass a defined number of consecutive document assessments and interventions.
This qualification number is pre-determined when considering the suitability of a commodity pathway for the CBIS, which depends on the compliance history and the biosecurity risks associated with the commodity and pathway.
How is the risk-based inspection rate applied?
Once an importer has qualified under the scheme, the compliance of any future consignments will continue to be monitored under risk-based intervention rates. The reduced risk-based intervention rates are applied at the line level and depend on the:
- product type (see tables above)
- end use
- biosecurity risk posed by the product
- compliance history of the pathway and the importer
- other measures applied on the pathway (treatments)
Risk-based intervention rates are based on the biosecurity risk currently posed by the products. The performance of commodities on the CBIS and subsequent intervention rates are reviewed by the department and may be subject to change at any time.
The intervention rate is applied as a ‘probability of intervention’ individually to each eligible line within a consignment by the department’s entry management systems. This means that an individual line may be selected for intervention. For example, if the inspection rate of a commodity is 20% for that product, then every line has a 20% chance of being directed for an inspection.
If non-compliance is detected during the intervention or during documentation assessment, the importer will return to 100% intervention until they have once again demonstrated compliance with our biosecurity requirements and re-qualify for the risk-based inspection rate.
Mandatory interventions are still required for all consignments that are:
- lodged in container mode and unable to be recognised by the system
- lodged without an ACC where one is required
- processed via the Automatic Entry Processing (AEP) scheme
- restricted due to other system rules or biosecurity concerns
- out of scope for this arrangement or do not comply with the import conditions on entry
- Imported under the Imported Food Inspection Scheme (in accordance with applicable rates).
Customs brokers and freight forwarders importing under the CBIS may need to be aware of how the Integrated Cargo System (ICS) will display status for a proportion of CBIS commodities.
Depending on the commodity and import pathway, entries that contain a line of goods eligible for the CBIS that have been selected for inspection may automatically switch to a “CONDCLEAR” status in the ICS immediately after the entry is lodged.
The status changes before a documentation assessment has been conducted and before details of the AIMS directions associated with the consignment are sent to clients. The status will change to CONDCLEAR even if other lines in the entry are also subject to biosecurity control.
The CONDCLEAR status means that clearance remains subject to biosecurity conditions. The CONDCLEAR status allows the consignment to be moved to an appropriate approved arrangements site for inspection once the biosecurity direction has been issued, but no part of a consignment with a CONDCLEAR status can be released from biosecurity control until the status is changed to CLEAR. Note that some goods remain subject to seals-intact inspection.
Details of the conditions associated with a CONDCLEAR status will be emailed out as AIMS directions. A CLEAR status will only be obtained once the biosecurity concerns for all lines have been addressed through documentation assessments, inspections and/or treatments (as required).
If you require further information, please email imports@aff.gov.au with ‘CBIS animal’ or the commodity of interest in the subject line. Alternatively, you can contact Imports on 1800 900 090.
Biosecurity import conditions are available on the department’s Biosecurity Import Conditions database (BICON).
For plants and plant products, please refer to the Plant CBIS webpage.