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We ensure that all goods, conveyances and travellers meet Australia’s biosecurity import conditions and that food imported into Australia and intended for sale meets food safety requirements.
We are responsible for operational policy and front-line regulation to manage biosecurity and imported food risk, and the delivery of assessment, inspection, stakeholder engagement and client contact services.
The importation of some products is, by law, subject to biosecurity import conditions. Some products are not permitted entry while other products are only allowed into Australia subject to meeting import conditions that mitigate the biosecurity risk. This may include a requirement for a biosecurity import permit.
To protect the health of Australians the department also regulates imported food intended for sale.
This information will assist importers when planning to temporarily import goods for an event.
Under the Biosecurity Act 2015, all international vessels and goods become subject to biosecurity control when they enter Australian territorial seas.
All international aircraft arriving in Australian territory must land or unload goods at a first point of entry (FPOE) landing place unless we grant permission to land elsewhere.
FPOE locations are determined under section 223 of the Biosecurity Act 2015.
Airports listed in Table 1 have a permanent biosecurity presence and aircraft operators do not need to seek specific permission to land here.
The giant honey bee is commonly found in China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and the Philippines.
The giant African snail is one of the world’s largest and most damaging land snails. Native to Eastern Africa, it has quickly spread around the world and is now established in most tropical countries. Australia is free from the giant African snail and we want to keep it that way.
The formosan subterranean termite is one of the most destructive termite species in the world. It can be found in China, Taiwan, Japan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the USA (including Hawaii).
Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, March 2025
For shippers to request that their Country Action List (CAL) cargo be transhipped without inspection in Australia.
Sea containers and breakbulk cargo from countries and ports identified as having high levels of contamination, or high-risk pests, are considered to be high-risk pathways.
We refer to these as Country Action List (CAL) locations.
Sea containers and break-bulk cargo that originate or arrive from these countries or ports, or that tranship through them, are called CAL cargo.
