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Department of Agriculture

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Biosecurity and trade
  3. Import
  4. Importing goods
  5. Timber and bamboo packaging

Sidebar first - Import

  • Importing goods
    • Biological products
      • Application to change the end use of imported biological goods (repurposing)
      • Biological products forms
      • Biological Consultative Group
      • Checklist for importing biological materials
        • Animal Feed (including pet food, stockfeed, aquaculture feed and bait) checklist
        • Importing laboratory materials for use in non-laboratory animals
      • How to import animal derivatives and microbial goods into Australia - general information for importers
        • Application for transfer of biosecurity risk material
        • How to complete an Application to Import Biological Materials
      • Questions and Answers
    • Cats and dogs
    • External Territories
      • Indian Ocean Territories (IOT)
        • Import conditions for solanaceous produce
      • Norfolk Island produce
        • Risk assessment-fresh apples and pears
        • Risk assessment-fresh asparagus
        • Risk assessment-fresh beans and snowpeas
        • Risk assessment-fresh blueberries
        • Risk assessment-fresh broccoli and cauliflower
        • Risk assessment-fresh citrus fruits
        • Risk assessment-fresh fleshy vegetables
        • Risk assessment-fresh kiwifruit
        • Risk assessment-fresh leafy vegetables
        • Risk assessment-fresh mangoes
        • Risk assessment-fresh melons
        • List of permitted species of mushrooms and truffles
        • Risk assessment-fresh pineapples
        • Risk assessment-fresh root crops
        • Risk assessment-fresh stone fruits
        • Risk assessment-fresh strawberries and raspberries
        • Risk assessment-fresh table grapes
      • Application for permit: External territories
      • Import conditions for public consultation
    • Fertiliser
      • Chemical and mined fertiliser
      • Level 1 gold supply chains
      • Organic fertiliser
    • Food
      • How to import food
        • Food Import Compliance Agreements
          • FICA audits
      • Import requirements by food type
        • Importing food from New Zealand
        • Pure and highly concentrated caffeine products
        • Cereal grains and cereal products
        • Coconut and coconut meat
        • Coconut milk drinks
        • Cheese
        • Dried milk
        • Raw milk cheese
        • Fruits and vegetables
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        • Powdered infant formula
        • Kava
        • Beef and beef products
        • Processed meat - cooked
        • Meat and edible offal
        • Cooked poultry meat
        • Cooked poultry pate, paste and liver
        • Raw beef and beef products
        • Processed meat - uncooked
        • Uncooked slow dry cured ham
        • Peanuts and pistachios
        • Sesame seeds and sesame seed products
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        • Cassava chips
        • Tofu, soy bean curd, soy milk curd
        • Mini jelly cups containing konjac
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        • Bivalve molluscs
        • Cooked crustaceans
        • Fish and crustaceans - aquaculture
        • Histamine susceptible fish
        • Processed finfish
        • Brown seaweed
        • Supplementary sports food
        • Edible insects
      • Documents and declarations
        • Full Import Declarations
        • Declaring the producer of imported food
        • IFIS importer declarations
      • Inspection and testing
        • Imported Food Inspection Scheme
        • Book a laboratory
        • Food sampling
        • Failing food reports
        • Reconsideration and review of decisions
        • Holding orders
        • Surveys and data
      • Appointed analysts
        • Testing imported food samples
        • Conditions for appointment as an analyst
      • Certification
        • Mandatory foreign government certification
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      • Notices
      • Legislation
    • Live animals and reproductive material
      • Animals on vessels
      • Application to import
      • Cats and dogs
      • Fees and charges
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        • Importing horses - Notices to Industry and Forms
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      • Reproductive material (semen and embryos)
        • Importing livestock and equine reproductive material
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      • Biosecurity Management Plan Template
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      • Sail-Away Report template
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    • Plants and plant products
      • Bulk grain
        • Bulk grain guidance and templates
        • Managing the biosecurity risks of imported bulk grain
      • Compliance-Based Intervention Scheme
        • Compliance-based intervention scheme (CBIS) for animal commodities
      • Cut flowers and foliage
        • Managing pests
        • Supply chain management system requirements
        • Importing cut flowers for commercial use guide
      • Food, drink and supplements
      • Fresh produce
      • Live plants
        • Approved sources of Phalaenopsis
        • Approved sources of tissue cultures free of media
        • Changes to import requirements to protect against Xylella
        • Live plant forms
      • Managing plant imports biosecurity risk
      • Plant-based animal feed
        • Guide to engaging and undertaking third party audits of processed plant-based stockfeed facilities
        • Infographic - importing processed plant-based animal feed
        • Plant-based animal feed and fertiliser forms
        • Requirements for facilities manufacturing and exporting processed plant-based stockfeed and their ingredients to Australia
      • Plant products applied to soils and plants
      • Seeds for planting
        • Coversheet for seed for planting consignments
        • Department approved seed purity testing laboratories
        • Emergency measures: Tomato brown rugose fruit virus
        • Emergency measures for tomato and capsicum seed: Tomato mottle mosaic virus Questions and Answers
        • International Clean Seed Pathway Workshop
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        • Reviewing laboratory test reports checklists
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        • Vegetable seeds policy review
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      • Processing imported plant material in Australia
      • Timber, bamboo and wood products
        • Approved treatments for timber and wooden related products
          • Timber permanent preservative treatment requirements
            • Approved timber permanent preservative formulations
            • Timber preservation standards
        • Canadian Sawn Wood Certification Program (CSWCP)
        • Imports for non-commercial (personal) use
        • Types of timber, bamboo, and related products
        • Wooden articles import permit
    • Timber and bamboo packaging
      • Bark on timber packaging and dunnage
      • ISPM 15 for solid wood packaging
    • Uncooked prawns
      • Par-cooking BBC prawns
      • Uncooked prawn consignments
    • Urban search and rescue taskforces

Timber and bamboo packaging

​​​​​Timber and bamboo packaging and dunnage (loose packaging) used to support, protect or carry products for international trade are subject to import conditions. The import conditions can be found on BICON under “timber and bamboo packaging” (for packaging imported as a commodity) or “non-commodity” (for packaging used to support other commodities).

Types of packaging and dunnage

Timber and bamboo packaging includes cases, crates, pallets, bearers, beams, skids, load boards, drums and blocks made from solid timber, plywood or reconstituted wood, bamboo, bamboo laminate or a combination of these materials. Import conditions vary depending on the type of packaging.

For the purpose of biosecurity, timber and bamboo packaging are grouped into three different types:

  • permitted packaging material
  • packaging and dunnage containing solid timber
  • packaging containing bamboo

The biosecurity risks are different for each of these types of packaging however all may harbour significant pests.

Read more about exotic pests that may arrive in imported timber and timber products.

1. Permitted packaging material

Photo of bamboo pallet
Image of plywood veneer sheeting

Permitted packaging materials are made solely of sufficiently processed timber or bamboo and have a very low biosecurity risk. Types of permitted packaging include:

  • reconstituted wood, plywood and veneer that have been sufficiently processed; and
  • bamboo laminate and veneer that have been sufficiently processed (e.g. bamboo oriented strand board).

Manufacturing activities that constitute sufficient processing include:

  • shredding or stripping of the bamboo/timber
  • boiling or steaming
  • peeling/veneering
  • kiln drying followed by a moulding/pressing process to produce laminates or veneer articles.

Provided they are clean and free from solid wood, unprocessed bamboo and biosecurity risk material such as bark and soil, permitted packaging materials do not require treatment and do not need to be declared as 'prohibited packaging' on packing declarations.  

2. Packaging and dunnage containing solid timber

​​​Photo of a pallet

Timber and bamboo packaging made from solid timber or a combination of solid timber and reconstituted wood or plywood, requires mandatory treatment and must be declared on packing declarations (see the Non-Commodity Information Requirements Policy for details of the declarations required).

There are a number of treatment options and clearance mechanisms available for packaging and dunnage containing solid timber. Importers should ensure that it has either:

  • been treated in accordance with ISPM 15; or
  • undergone an acceptable offshore treatment in accordance with the import conditions outlined in BICON.

Where packaging and dunnage containing solid timber is not treated in accordance with ISPM 15 or where an acceptable offshore treatment has not been carried out, it will require a mandatory treatment when it arrives in Australia as per BICON, or may be exported or destroyed at the importers expense.

All packaging and dunnage containing solid timber (whether treated in accordance with ISPM or another acceptable form of treatment) must comply with ISPM 15 bark tolerance requirements.

For packaging and dunnage containing solid timber that also contains bamboo, see ‘packaging containing bamboo’ below.​

3. Packaging containing bamboo

​Photo of a bamboo palletPhoto of bamboo pallet

Packaging containing bamboo includes, crates, cases, pallets, bearers and blocks made from the genus Bambusa, Dendrocalamus, Phyllostchys and allied genera, and packaging that contains a combination of timber and bamboo.

This packaging material requires a mandatory treatment (as detailed in BICON​) and must be declared on packing declarations. See the Non-Commodity Information Requirements Policy for details of the declarations required.

Documentary requirements

The Non-Commodity Information Requirements Policy contains detailed information on documentary requirements for packaging materials and containers. The documentary requirements for timber and bamboo packaging materials and dunnage differ depending on the type of consignment and the types of packaging materials used in the consignment.

The supplier or the packer of a container is required to complete a packing declaration for containerised cargo. Only Full Container Load and Less than Container Load consignments require a mandatory packaging declaration to be presented to the department. Packing declarations are not required for air and break bulk cargo consignments.

Cargo types not requiring a packing declaration will be subject to routine surveillance activities.

​​

General enquiries

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Last updated: 04 November 2019

© Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.