DAFF have introduced emergency measures for all break bulk and containerised vehicles, machinery, automotive parts and tyres shipped from the United States to Australia due to the significant number of interceptions of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug.

Due to the widespread occurrence of this pest in the United States, all specified break bulk and all abovementioned containerised cargo shipped from US east coast ports from 23 February 2015, will be required to be fumigated at origin prior to shipping and be accompanied by a an approved certificate of compliance on arrival in Australia. All remaining US origin ports will be subject to the abovementioned requirements for arrivals on and from 9 March, 2015. These changes will affect importers of break bulk and containerised vehicles, machinery, automotive parts and tyres shipped from the United States. This new requirement will significantly delay shipment arrivals and add to the costs of importing. DAFF believe these measures will be in place until at least April, 2015.

Further detail can be obtained from the below DAFF link.

http://www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity/import/general-info/ian/15/03-2015

Another year and another Free Trade Agreement, from tomorrow the 15 January 2015, The Japanese Australia Free Trade Agreement will enter into force.

On commencement importers will be entitled to duty-free entry for most goods imported from Japan, provided the goods meet the JAEPA Rules of Origin.

To claim Japanese originating goods a Certificate of Origin (COO) or an origin certification document is required to support a claim for JAEPA preferential treatment. The preferred option will be the origin certification document which may be completed by an importer, exporter or producer for each imported shipment and provides a cost effective system where importers and exporters can certify their own products rather than having the additional expense of a COO being issued by an authorised body. An origin certification document must be provided for each qualifying shipment.

The Origin certification documents must contain the following data elements to be acceptable for Customs purposes: Exporter or producer details, description of goods, HS code (six digits), Preference criterion, and certification (by the importer, exporter or producer, that, based on the evidence and records maintained, the goods specified in the origin certification documents meet all the relevant requirement and the name and address of the importer, exporter or producer who completed the origin certification document.

Australian Customs link to the Japan – Australia Economic Partnership Agreement (JAEPA):

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/japan-australia-agreement.asp

Department of Foreign Affairs and trade link:

http://www.dfat.gov.au/fta/jaepa/

Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb has announced that Australia’s Free Trade Agreement with South Korea will enter into force on 12 December 2014.

KAFTA’s entry into force at this time will mean that many Australian importers and exporters will benefit from immediate tariff cuts, with further tariff cuts on 1 January 2015.

Given Korea is Australia’s fourth-largest trading partner – with bilateral trade worth more than $34 billion in 2013-14 – the agreement will increase import & export opportunities across a wide range of industries.

Australian Customs link to the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement:

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/Korea-Australia-free-trade-agreement.asp

Department of Foreign Affairs and trade link:

http://www.dfat.gov.au/fta/kafta/snapshot/index.html

To obtain duty free admission of Korean origin goods into Australia a correctly complete Certificate of Origin needs to be provided by your supplier a template can be provided on request.

The Maritime Union of Australia industrial action at DP World will affect the following ports Melbourne, Sydney and Fremantle. The details of the industrial action are as follows:

Melbourne: operations will cease at 6am on Thursday,11^th Dec and resume at 1400 on Friday,12^th Dec.

Sydney: operations will cease at 10am on Thursday 11^th Dec and resume at 6am on Friday,12^th Dec.

Fremantle: industrial action for this Friday 12, Dec, times yet to be confirmed.

Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory have adopted the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) and Regulations for heavy vehicles over 4.5 tonnes gross vehicle mass.  For further detail please refer to the below;

https://www.nhvr.gov.au/law-policies/heavy-vehicle-national-law-and-regulations

Oversize/over mass (OSOM) vehicles that are in excess of 2.5 in width, 19 metres in length, 4.3 metres in height or in excess of 42.5 tonnes are denied general access to the Australian road network unless they have road-friendly suspensions, travel on approved routes and as the load size and the journey length increase, the number of affected road managers and the time required to assess OSOM vehicle applications will increase.

Road transport operators cannot legally move an OSOM vehicle from a port without approval from relevant road managers. Goods and loads may attract storage charges and other penalties, while waiting for the permit. Clients and service providers should advise prospective road transport operators of the item details as soon as possible and well before the item arrives in Australia.

Ongoing congestion and inland transportation problems in North America have worsened drastically over the last month and continue to deteriorate. Demand for trucking services at major US ports now far exceeds capacity. Compounding the issue, several major North American ports have become severely congested, including:

Los Angeles / Long Beach, Vancouver, Norfolk, New York

Los Angeles and Long Beach are the worst affected. Severe shortages in trucking services, terminal & rail congestion and ongoing industrial action from maritime workers is causing lengthy delays and additional costs for both export and import cargo.

Shipping lines are experiencing unexpected increases in the cost of inland transport and as a result, will implement an intermodal congestion surcharge on all intermodal shipments to/from USA effective November 15^th , 2014.

The charge will be applied to all export and import cargoes that are being moved via truck or rail, to or from their initial port of discharge, at a rate of approximately 100 USD per container.

Customers with cargo moving to or from the USA through any of the previously mentioned ports should prepare for potential delays and additional costs.

The new due diligence requirements for imported wood-based products comes into effect on 30 November 2014.  This new requirement relates to most timber and wood-based products such as sawn timber, veneer, moldings, wood panels, plywood, pulp, paper products and wooden products.

Importers should be arranging their processes to confirm that they will comply with these new requirements. This is particularly relevant if you are thinking of ordering timber or paper products of Chapters 44, 47, 48 or 94 that will arrive in Australia after this 30 November, 2014.

Due diligence can be summarized as a four-step process

1. Gathering information about the timber or timber product you are importing
2. If appropriate, using a Timber Legality Framework or Country Specific Guideline to help inform your decision making.
3. Assessing the risk the timber or timber product you are importing has been illegally logged
4. Where necessary, undertaking extra steps to reduce the risk the timber you are importing has been illegally logged.

Details as per below DAFF link:

http://www.daff.gov.au/forestry/policies/illegal-logging/information-importers

While the due diligence requirements are not scheduled to come into effect until 30 November 2014, you should be starting to think about how you will comply with the new arrangements.

From 30 November 2014, importers of regulated timber products will be asked to make a declaration to Customs about their compliance with their due diligence obligations. This will be in the form of a Community Protection Question on the full import declaration form.

You will need to answer the Community Protection Question honestly. Answering ‘no’ to the question will not lead to your timber products being held up at the border. However, it may lead to further questions from the department and follow up action.

Please note China’s upcoming National Holiday will be from the 1^st October until the 7^th October 2014 As the entire industry in China will be closed for the whole week we expect vessels and flights to be quite full leading up to the holiday and in the weeks following.

Please ensure you have sorted all bookings, payments and telex releases with your supplier prior to September 30^th to ensure there are no delays incurred in Australia on arrival.

If you need any assistance please feel free to call us in the office on 1300 00 4225.

Please be aware the Chinese New Year Festivities commence January 31and is an extended holiday period in China which concludes with the Lantern Festival. The year of the Horse celebrations do present some logistic issues for Australian importers and exporters as this extended celebration can create considerable supply chain delays.

The Government has announced a restructure to the import processing charge (“IPC”) to recover the cost of all import related cargo and trade functions undertaken by Australian Customs. 

For consignments valued over $10K or more,

The IPC for electronic sea import declarations (both FCL and LCL) will be increased by $102.60 to $152.60 per consignment. 

• The IPC for electronic air import declarations will be increased by $81.90 to $122.10 per consignment

• For Full Import Declarations (Value over $1000 up to $10,000) there will be no change to the current IPC charged, being $50 for electronic sea import declarations and $40.20 for electronic air import declarations.

• There is no change to any IPC in relation to self-assessed clearances (SAC) where the Customs Value is less than A$1000.