Cruising through quarantine

What you need to know before disembarking at an Australian port.

Declare it to quarantine

Australia's remoteness creates an environment unlike any other on Earth. Quarantine helps protect it. Food, souvenirs, plant material and animal products could introduce serious pests and diseases into Australia.

Declare or beware

When you leave the vessel at an Australian port, you must declare for inspection all food, plant material and animal products. You must declare these items whether you are getting off the ship permanently or just for a day trip.

• Food is anything you can eat and includes meat, dairy or egg products.
• Plant material includes souvenirs containing grass, wood, flowers, seeds or other plant matter.
• Animal products include souvenirs containing bone, raw hide, shells or other animal matter.

How do I declare items?

If you're disembarking in Australia, you will be given an Incoming Passenger Card on the ship. This is a legal document. You must mark YES to declare if you are carrying any food, plant material or animal products.

When you get off the ship, you must present the items you're declaring to Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) officers, so they can inspect them. If you have items you don't wish to present, you can leave them on the ship or dispose of them in quarantine bins as you depart the cruise ship.

What happens to items I declare?

In many cases, items you declare will be returned to you after inspection. However, anything that presents a disease risk or that contains insects or larvae will be confiscated. Depending on the risk, you may be given the option to:

• pay for the item to be treated to make it safe
• pay to re-export the item, or
• have the item destroyed by AQIS.

Treatment may damage goods. AQIS makes every effort to minimise the risk, but does not accept liability for damage that may occur as a result of treatment.

When shopping overseas

• Avoid buying wooden items with small holes or sawdust—this may indicate insect infestation
• Beware of claims such as 'treated for export', 'export quality', 'processed' or 'fumigated', as well as 'government inspection' stickers, because such items may not meet Australian quarantine requirements
• Don't be influenced by 'overseas experts', who may not be familiar with Australia's latest quarantine requirements.

If you don't declare

On arrival in Australia your luggage may be X-rayed, inspected or checked by detector dogs. If you don't declare all items of quarantine concern, you will be caught and risk on-the-spot fines or prosecution and fines of more than $60,000.

More information

Website
Phone: 1800 020 504 (free call in Australia)
Email