Biosecurity Portal is enhanced with new features

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

JOIN THE ALLIANCE
Who does this notice affect?

Approved arrangements operators, customs brokers, importers, manned depots, and freight forwarders wishing to book and manage requests for import inspections using the Biosecurity Portal.

Who is not affected by this notice?

Clients who require: 
•    Bulk bookings
•    Virtual visual label inspections
•    Airway bill requests
•    High volume specialist operators (HSVO).

 

Biosecurity Portal is enhanced with new features

Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) has received advice from the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (the department) of the issuance today of Import Industry Advice Notice 215-2022 advising of enhancements to the Biosecurity Portal.

What is the Biosecurity Portal?


The department is improving the way we deliver our services to our industry clients. We are working with industry to co-design our new service model and enable industry to interact with us online through the Biosecurity Portal.

The Portal allows clients to lodge and manage requests for an import inspection at any time in a centralised online location. The Portal means inspections at your fingertips - no manual forms; one central location; save time; and have more visibility with 24/7 access to your Agriculture Import Management System (AIMS) directions information and inspection bookings.

While we deploy these significant reforms and initiatives, and our staff transition to a new way of operating, we will be closely monitoring for any resultant disruption.
 

What is changing?


On 05 November 2022 a new version of the Portal will be released with new features and enhancements for clients including:
  • Ability for clients to indicate if goods are perishable and/or urgent
  • All notifications from the department will be sent to the users nominated business email address
  • Streamlining requests for Food Program directions by reducing the number of directions and automatically matching the request to the correct direction in AIMS
  • Removing the possibility of duplicate inspection requests across Portal channels, reducing client-department interactions and improve response times for scheduling bookings
  • Further reduce the number of unnecessary steps with more on-screen instructions to make the inspection request process clearer and easier to follow.
This release will also introduce capabilities to improve back-end processes which are expected to further automate the inspection booking and scheduling process (removing manual intervention by DAFF staff).

Please refer to the Release Notes for more information  https://www.awe.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/import/online-services/biosecurity-portal/release-information
 

Scheduled outage


The Portal will be unavailable from 16:00 Saturday 05 November to 07:00 Sunday 06 November (AEDT) while the new feature and enhancements are being implemented.
 

Further information


For more information on the Biosecurity Portal including its functions, how to use it and to register for a webinar please see Biosecurity Portal webpage (https://www.awe.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/import/online-services/biosecurity-portal/about) or email biosecurityportal@awe.gov.au

For request for inspections (RFI) submitted via the Portal or email, please continue to direct your enquiries to the department's Client Contact Group on 1800 900 090.
 
To ensure you remain updated on these changes, we recommend registering to receive BICON alerts and Import Industry Advice Notices.

Sal Milici -  Head of Border & Biosecurity - FTA / APSA

Copyright © 2022 Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) Pty Ltd, All rights reserved.