8 May 2023
Who does this notice affect?
This notice is of interest to importers, brokers, and biosecurity industry participants of:
- Feathers (loose feathers or manufactured articles made with feathers) that has been treated prior to export by one of the department's approved treatments.
- Cnidarians, echinoderms, tunicates and poriferans that are fresh or have undergone minimal processing
What has changed?
The department is incorporating two new commodity import pathways onto the Compliance Based Intervention Scheme (CBIS). This change is scheduled to take effect on 31 May 2023.
The CBIS program rewards importers who demonstrate consistent compliance with Australia’s biosecurity requirements under a risk-based intervention approach (applied at the line level). Compliant importers can benefit from smoother clearance processes at the Australian border and reduced regulatory costs.
The scheme benefits importers who demonstrate consistent compliance with Australia’s biosecurity requirements for these commodities with reduced inspection rates. Please note that this will not take effect immediately as importers will first need to build their compliance history in the CBIS system.
The inspection rate also increases if non-compliance is detected. Non-compliance could be during initial documentation assessment or when verifying the goods during an inspection. After a period of compliance, consignments will then requalify for a reduced rate of intervention.
It is not anticipated that brokers will need to lodge your consignments any differently. To qualify for risk-based intervention under the CBIS, importers and brokers will need to:
- import an eligible commodity under an appropriate tariff
- answer the profile questions accurately
- lodge the entry in line mode
- meet both the document and inspection import conditions for their goods.
- documents must meet our import conditions upon first lodgement. Any failures during the initial documentation assessment (eg. missing, non-compliant or expired documentation) counts as non-compliance under the CBIS, and your risk-based intervention rate will adjust accordingly.
Please note: Goods that qualify for CBIS may still be required to meet other biosecurity and imported food requirements. All imported food must meet the food safety requirements under the Imported Food Control Act 1992 monitored through the Imported Food Inspection Scheme. Check the imported food requirements for your food type.
Further information
More information on CBIS is available on the departments CBIS webpages:
If you require further information, please email imports@aff.gov.au with ‘CBIS feathers’ or ‘CBIS cnidarians echinoderms, tunicates or poriferans’ in the subject line or contact Imports on 1800 900 090. Biosecurity import conditions are available on the department’s Biosecurity Import Conditions database (BICON).