2011-12 Fees and charges review for import clearance activities and Seaports program

The Department is undertaking a review of fees and charges for Import Clearance Activities including those for Imported Food Services, and for the Seaports program. These fee reviews are progressing with regular monitoring and analysis of revenues and expenditures.

The review of Import Clearance Activity fees will fulfil the commitment made in the June 2009 cost recovery impact statement (CRIS) to review the impact of the 2009 changes and consider further amendments from 2011.

Fees for the Seaports program were also amended on 1 July 2009 for the 2009–10 financial year. A fee review for the Seaports program is also being undertaken concurrently with the Import Clearance Activities fee review.

Aim of the reviews

The aims of the current fees and charges review are to:

• maintain the existing delivery of biosecurity services, including the required resourcing of overhead and support services
• support the progress of key business improvements, risk based initiatives and agreed operational priorities with industry, including information technology enhancement, intelligence gathering and analysis, expansion and improvement of third party (co-regulation) arrangements
• ensure appropriate cost recovery of permit granting processes
• consider minor amendments to the Quarantine Service Fee Determination 2005, including further aggregation of fees
• review required reserve balances to minimise risks to the organisations ability to deliver ongoing operations and implement initiatives during a period of significant change, and continued uncertainty of world economies.

Cost Modelling

The final draft of the cost model has been completed for the fees and charges review. The cost model underpins the 2011 CRIS by analysing expenditure and revenue by activity stream. This is consistent with the 2009 fee reviews, which considered the activity classifications used as the basis for determining costs and calculating service fees.
For Import Clearance Activities these streams are:

• Import operations
• Treatment and inspections
• Permit granting

For the Seaports program the activity streams are:

• Inspections
• Documentary assessment

Legislative changes

Amendments to Import Clearance Activities and Seaports Program fees will necessitate an amendment to the following legislation which will commence at the completion of the consultation period:

• Quarantine Services Fees Determination 2005
• Imported Food Control Regulations 1993

Consultation

Formal industry consultation commenced in February 2011. This includes discussions with a range of AQIS consultative committees that represent importers and other industry members that would be affected by amendments to the legislation.

Update on progress

It is anticipated that the fee review process will be completed to allow the introduction of proposed fee amendments from early in the 2012 calendar year. The indicative timeframe for the process is as follows:

This page will be updated regularly as milestones are reached or key dates may be amended. Results of the fees and charges review will also be published here when relevant information is available for public release.

Import fees and charges information

To view details of current import fees and charges, please visit these links:

• Fees for government animal quarantine stations for cats and dogs
• Fees for government animal quarantine for animals other than cats and dogs
• Fees and charges for import clearance
• Vessel clearance fees and charges
• Post entry plant quarantine fees and charges
• Permit fees

Further information

For further information contact the Quarantine Coordination Program or telephone 02 6272 3933.