Biosecurity Matters, Edition 5, 2020
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Biosecurity is the management of the risk of pests and diseases entering, emerging, establishing or spreading in Australia and causing harm to animals, plants or human health, the economy, the environment and the community.
Monitoring, evaluation and learning
The Australian Government is accountable for ensuring the Future Drought Fund supports genuine improvements in drought preparedness and resilience.
To do this, we:
213-2020 - The department is implementing a number of new commodities onto the Compliance Based Intervention Scheme (CBIS)
11 December 2020
Who does this notice affect?
Importers and brokers of:
- Fresh truss and loose tomatoes from New Zealand
- Fresh persimmons from New Zealand
- Fresh mandarins from the United States
- Dried permitted species of mushrooms and truffles
What has changed?
The department is incorporating a number of new commodities onto the Compliance Based Intervention Scheme (CBIS). This change is scheduled to take effect on 18 December 2020.
2020-74 - Horticulture Exports Program – Requirements for Indonesia Recommendations to Import Horticulture and Import Licences
11 December 2020
Purpose
This Industry Advice Notice (IAN) is for all Australian horticulture exporters sending product to Indonesia that require Indonesian importers to apply for a Recommendation to Import Horticulture (RIPH) from the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and an import licence from the Ministry of Trade (MoT).
212-2020 - COLS, OPS and PEBS unavailable from 23:00 Friday 11 December to 00:00 Saturday 12 December 2020 (AEDT)
11 December 2020
Who does this notice affect?
All importers and customs brokers who will be required to lodge imported cargo documentation to the department for biosecurity assessment during this planned outage period.
All clients who will be required to make an online payment during this planned outage period.
All importers of plants, cats and/or dogs who will be required to use the Post Entry Biosecurity System during this planned outage.
2020-73 - Plant Exports – Christmas and New Year period arrangements
11 December 2020
Purpose
This Industry Advice Notice (IAN) is to advise industry and Authorised Officers about arrangements for plant exports systems and services during the Christmas and New Year period.
2020-72 - Business Systems Program – Plant Exports Management System launches new functionality for exporters, EDI users and registered establishment executives and other system enhancements
10 December 2020
Purpose
This Industry Advice Notice (IAN) is to notify stakeholders of updates to the Plant Exports Management System (PEMS).
211-2020 - Importation of COVID-19 Vaccines
10 December 2020
Who does this notice affect?
Importers of COVID-19 vaccines.
Background
The Australian Government is doing all that it can to minimise the impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19). This means working to ensure goods, including COVID-19 vaccines can enter Australia as quickly and efficiently as possible, while meeting import requirements. The following information is provided to assist importers to minimise delays in the border clearance process.
Changes to the Dried fruits levy rate – effective 1 January 2021
From 1 January 2021, a Plant Health Australia (PHA) levy component at a rate of $1.00 per tonne will be introduced to dried vine fruits sub-variant of the dried fruits levy that is imposed on dried fruits received for processing.
Dried vine fruit producers will benefit from increased biosecurity measures to protect their industry and a more equitable funding mechanism for their biosecurity activities.
Changes to the levy rates are shown in the table below:
Changes to the Farmed prawns levy and charge – effective 1 January 2021
From 1 January 2021, the white spot disease repayment (WSDR) component of the farmed prawns levy, currently set at 3.01 cents per kilogram, will be deactivated and set to nil for 12 months following requests for levy relief from the Australian Prawn Farmers Association.
Changes to the levy and charge rates are shown in the table below: