19 August 2025
Who does this notice affect?
Importers and brokers who have imported or plan to import goods containing dairy, including colostrum, butter and cheese (excluding raw milk cheese) sourced from, manufactured in or exported from all countries. This notice applies to bovine, ovine and caprine dairy products.
What is happening?
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has undertaken an import risk review for dairy products for human consumption (the dairy review) which considers the biosecurity risks associated with the import of dairy products and any measures required to manage these risks.
The department is working through the implementation of the dairy review, which includes the implementation of biosecurity measures required to manage the risk of foot and mouth disease, peste des petits ruminants disease and sheeppox and goatpox virus. An implementation guide has been developed and provides information to potential importers on the implementation process and the import conditions relevant to the import of dairy products into Australia.
What happens next?
Implementation of the dairy review will begin at the end of August 2025. The initial transition period for the review will take place over 12 months, beginning 31 August 2025 when the department will begin issuing permits with two sets of conditions:
- one set of conditions will uphold the current import conditions, and
- the second set of conditions will reflect the import conditions found in the review of the final report (see Section 5, pages 81-91).
During this time, the department will begin health certificate negotiations with overseas government authorities. The negotiated health certificates will coincide with the transition to the import conditions listed in the dairy review.
More information will be made available via the department’s website, BICON alerts, industry advice notices and other official communication channels as implementation of the dairy risk review progresses.
The department will also directly contact permit applicants impacted by implementation of the dairy review to advise of any potential changes to import conditions that may be applied to their import permit conditions.
Further information
More information is available on the Import Risk Review Implementation page.
Details about the dairy review are provided in the BICON alert on dairy review implementation.
Changes related to the removal of LSD requirements, as recommended in the dairy review, are outlined in the BICON change notice on LSD requirement removal.
If you have any questions, please contact the department by phone at 1800 900 090 or by email at imports@aff.gov.au.