1 July 2024
Who does this notice affect?
This notice is relevant to pre-border biosecurity treatment providers and clients in the import and shipping industries. This includes freight forwarders, importers, and customs brokers dealing with goods that require brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) treatment during the BMSB risk season.
What has changed?
We are pleased to announce the launch of AusTreat, our new pre-border biosecurity treatment provider assurance scheme. AusTreat will replace the Offshore BMSB Treatment Provider Scheme from 1 July 2024.
This is a significant milestone in Australia’s pre-border biosecurity risk management. Our new scheme will ensure biosecurity risk is managed at its source, before it arrives on Australia’s shores.
AusTreat will give us greater confidence that industry operators overseas are applying treatments effectively. This reduces the need for manual intervention at our border, making border clearance processes quicker and cheaper for industry and consumers, and allowing the department to redirect resources to higher risk pathways.
The scheme will respond to changes in risk over time. For example, if a new pest emerges as a biosecurity threat to Australia, treatment providers already registered under AusTreat will be able to treat goods without the need to register under a different scheme leading to faster and more dynamic responses to biosecurity threats.
This initiative delivers on the strategic action to expand offshore assurance arrangements and overseas supply chain integration outlined in the Commonwealth’s Biosecurity 2030 Roadmap.
Key changes under AusTreat include:
- All treatment certificates, records of treatments, and other relevant data must be entered into our treatment certificate portal.
- A full registration process occurs every three years.
- Some information will be required annually to maintain registration, including:
- calibration certificates
- stewardship certificates for sulfuryl fluoride.
- Email updated to offshoretreatments@aff.gov.au
What’s not changing:
From 1 September 2024, treatments conducted in BMSB target risk countries on target high-risk goods must be carried out by a treatment provider registered under AusTreat and listed as approved on The List of Treatment Providers.
AusTreat does not replace or impact the Australian Fumigation Accreditation Scheme (AFAS).
Further information
For any questions, please contact Compliance Partnerships at offshoretreatments@aff.gov.au
Please refer to our webpage for more details.