How to Import Food into Australia

Import food into Australia? This writeup offers you everything you need to import food into Australia, they must be cleared by the Australian Customs and Border Protection Services and may be subject to clearance fees, customs duty, Goods and Services Tax (GST) and other taxes.

You may bring goods or import food into Australia with you when travelling from overseas or you may have them sent you by air cargo, sea cargo or international post. These are all classified as imports.

Goods with a value of less than $1000 are not subject to customs duty or GST, unless they are alcohol or tobacco products.

The supplier sending these goods to you must attach a customs declaration of the package to describe the contents and their value and these are generally delivered through the Australian postal system.

Do I Need to Pay Customs Duty or GST When I Import Food into Australia?

Goods valued at over $1000 will need to be assessed for customs duty and GST.  It’s important that you take the time to describe and find the correct tariff classification for the goods you are importing. 

Working out the correct tariff for your products can be very complicated – importing from specific countries with free trade agreements, or preferential duty rate agreements, may reduce your tariff rate.   

Duty is calculated based on the tariff classification for the goods and their customs value, which is usually the price you paid converted to Australian dollars.

GST is calculated on the Value of Taxable Importation (VoTi), which takes into account the customs value, any duty paid and the freight costs to bring the goods to Australia.

What Is the Minimum Documentation Required to Import Food into Australia?

To import food into Australia, you will be required to lodge an import declaration. 

Imports under $1000 are lodged as SACs (Self Assessed Clearance) declarations – these do

not incur import duty/GST or ACS (data processing) charges, with the exclusion of alcohol and tobacco.

Import Declarations are used by the Australia Customs Service to assess the goods for customs duty, GST and other taxes and charges, and to determine whether they require permits or other approvals, especially if they are classified as dangerous goods.

The minimum documentation required is an invoice, bill of lading/airway bill and any other papers such as AQIS Packing Declaration (for sea freight only) packing list, insurance documents, etc. relating to the shipment.  You must attach these documents to your Import Declaration, which must be lodged by the importer receiving the goods in Australia, or their chosen agent. If you choose to lodge your Import Declaration yourself you will be required to provide 100 points of identification. Please not that you must follow the guideline to import food into Australia to ease the clearing.

International Ports and Airports of Australia

Australia is made up of 6 states and 2 Territories. The capital of Australia is Canberra that is located the Australian Capital Territory (A.C.T.).

The A.C.T is a landbound territory in the southern part of New South Wales. The population of Australia is 25 million. Approximately 95% of Australia’s population live in 5% of the landmass around the coastline with the East Coast containing most of the residents.

Customs Regulations

All goods entering into Australia are normally subject to Australian Border Force (Customs) and Bio Security (Quarantine) inspection prior to clearance. 

Unaccompanied baggage and household goods may be imported into Australia free of customs duty providing the personal and household effects have been owned overseas for (12) twelve months or more preceding the customer’s departure for Australia.

Items not in this category, which have been owned for less than twelve months, will be subject to duty and Goods and Services Tax (G.S.T), these include and are not limited to, alcohol (all alcohol is dutiable and must be declared, even partly used bar stock.), tobacco products and road vehicles. The rates applicable vary and purchase receipts, invoices or the like will be required to substantiate values involved.

Australian Border Force and Bio Security (Customs and Quarantine)

A Customs form B534 Unaccompanied Personal Effects Statement must be signed and completed by the owner of the goods to clear the shipment when it arrives in Australia.

Photocopies of passport pages including Australian entry stamp and VISA together with a full descriptive inventory in English are required to clear Customs. (Original passport may be required by Customs for car clearance).

Please ensure that the completed Customs declaration, passport copies and inventory are attached with the shipping documents and received by Nuss prior to the arrival of the shipment.

(Quarantine Inspection Service) inspect every Personal Effects and Household Goods shipment prior to release for delivery to residence.

Customs will inspect based on the information in the B534 form and inventory, as well as on a random basis. Please note, the shipment must be cleared by both Customs and Bio Security before you can arrange delivery to residence.

Customs and Quarantine Overview Required to Import food into Australia

The procedures are governed by the rules, regulations and laws administered by Australian Border Force (Customs) and Australian Bio Security (Quarantine Inspection Service) which are necessary to Import Food into Australia. These rules or their interpretation can change from time to time and without notice however we provide the information below based upon our understanding at the time of writing.

General Guidelines

1. Shipments, air or sea, must receive clearance from Customs and from Quarantine before they are available for delivery.
2. Generally, household goods and personal effects which have been owned by the consignee and/or his/her family for at least 12 months prior to shipment may be imported duty and tax-free.
3. The consignee must complete a B534e Customs form “Unaccompanied Personal Effects Statement” form. A clear and legible photocopy of the form is accepted by Customs. All questions must be answered including a street address in Australia (PO Box and business addresses are not accepted).

Procedures

Sea Shipments

1. Consignments – either FCL or LCL – are brought under bond from the port to a Customs bonded warehouse for clearance. It generally takes 2-5 days, depending upon which terminal the vessel arrived at and whether it is FCL or LCL, before consignments are available at the Wharf.
2. Once in the bond store the containers and lift vans are unloaded into the bond areas to await inspection.
3. Customs and then Quarantine officers visit on set days each week. Quarantine officers will always inspect certain items however, items inspected by Quarantine or Customs officers will be re-packed and/or re-wrapped by skilled removalists.
4. If items are assessed for duty/GST, client/another party will need to make payment to Customs prior to release.
5. If items are ordered for steam cleaning/fumigation/gamma-irradiation or destruction, we will arrange this and will normally seek instructions from the consigning mover on whom to invoice.
6. From vessel arrival to the time sea shipments are available for delivery, approximately 10-14 days will elapse.

Air Shipments

1. Quarantine officers will inspect all air shipments. We will bring the consignment under bond from the airport to our bonded warehouse for examination in the presence of our skilled removalists who will re-pack prior to delivery. From touchdown to being available for delivery about 5-7 days will elapse.
2. Items of Interest to Bio Security (Quarantine) Officers The following list is not exhaustive but a consignment containing any of these items is likely to be looked at by Quarantine Officers.
   • Outdoor item: furniture, garden tools, bicycles, sports equipment and the like. Before packing, these should be hosed down to remove all loose soil, grass cuttings or seeds etc.
   • Lawn mowers. These should be cleaned.
   • Cartons marked “kitchen misc”, “kitchen items”, “kitchen sundries” or “PBO”. These will be inspected as they may contain foodstuffs, the entry of which in a household goods consignment is prohibited (spices are generally allowed in).
   • Christmas decorations, dried flower arrangements, pine cones, twigs, bark etc may have seeds in them. These items are generally ordered for quarantine treatment or destruction.
   • Bamboo, rattan or antique furniture. These will be inspected for borer (worm). If evidence of recent infestation is found then the item(s) will be taken for fumigation or gamma irradiation and the costs are borne by the consignee unless the consigning mover accepts the charges.
   • Alcohol/tobacco.
3. Customs officers may inspect any items declared on the B534e form as well as other items selected at random. Items often selected from the inventory for inspection include alcohol, drugs, firearms, weapons, electrical items etc.

If a dutiable/taxable item has been omitted from the B534e form is discovered, a complex and time-consuming process will follow which may necessitate the consignee producing a Statutory Declaration by way of explanation, and penalty charges may apply.

List of Goods That Are Strictly Prohibited for Importation.

These items should not be included in any shipments into Australia.

• Dairy, eggs and egg products

Includes whole, dried and powdered egg and some products with egg as an ingredient (infant formula accompanying an infant, and NZ dairy products are allowed).

• Live animals

Includes birds, birds’ eggs, fish, reptiles and insects.

• Meat and meat products

Includes all uncanned or fresh, dried, frozen, smoked or salted meat.

• Seeds and nuts

Includes raw unroasted nuts, raw peanuts, chestnuts and popping corn.

• Fresh fruit and vegetables

Includes all fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables.

• Live plants

Includes cuttings, roots, bulbs, corns, rhizomes and stems.

• Handicrafts and souvenirs that contain or are made from seeds.
• Salmon and trout products – ask about special import conditions (canned salmon is allowed).
• Biological materials – includes human/animal vaccines and therapeutic goods (ask about special import conditions).
• Deer horn/velvet, edible birds nest packaged products – deer horn and/or antler from NZ are allowed (with certification).
• Soil and sand – includes items filled with soil or sand (rocks free of soil and sand are allowed)

Please note Quarantine will charge the importer for the destruction of prohibited items.

List Of Custom Brokers You Can Use to Import Food into Australia

 One of the steps to take on how to import food into Australia is to contact an experience custom broker and discuss your Africa food importation with them.

Here is the list of verified custom brokers in Australia that can handle your Australia food importations