Notice to Industry 35/2008-09 - ICS Profile Survey

The purpose of this notice is to provide information to Industry regarding the ICS Profile Survey that will be conducted by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) in the first half of 2009.

Objective of the Survey

In line with recommendations of the Quarantine and Biosecurity Review (the Beale review) on quarantine risk and its management, the objective of the Survey is to analyse the current risk management frameworks and look for undetected quarantine risk not currently profiled for routine interceptions based on the nature and description of the goods and / or tariff classifications.

View information on the review of Australia's quarantine and biosecurity arrangements—report and Australian Government preliminary response

The ICS Profile Survey is scheduled to be conducted in February and March 2009.  The Survey will focus on Air and Sea cargo. A total of 3000 samples from both logistic pathways will be intercepted and assessed for any issues of quarantine concern. The samples will be targeted from ICS Air and Sea cargo reports / FIDs that are currently not profiled for AQIS action at the border.

How will the Survey activities affect Industry?

The survey will be carried out in line with current effectiveness activities that AQIS conducts, such as the Import Clearance Effectiveness (ICE) project. There will be no AQIS charges for inspections that form part of the ICS Profile survey.   If items of quarantine concern are identified which require further action AQIS charges will apply and Quarantine concern detected in the survey will be subject to AQIS protocols and practices to manage and contain quarantine risk.

Notice will be provided on consignments targeted by the survey, this will contain directions of how to contact AQIS and present the goods for inspection. Targeted consignments will be inspected within 24hrs of booking. 

AQIS appreciates the cooperation and support of Industry in this important risk related survey activity, which assists AQIS to safeguard Australia's biosecurity status. For any further information on how this initiative will affect your operation, please contact:

Air

NSW- Phone: 02 8334 7570

Sea

FNQ- Phone: 07 4789 7811

NSW- Phone: 02 8334 7651

NT- Phone: 08 8920 7040

QLD- Phone: 07 3246 8754

SA- Phone: 08 8201 6027

TAS- Phone: 03 6233 8229

VIC- Phone: 03 8308 5010

WA- Phone: 08 9334 1502