3 June 2026
Who does this notice affect?
Importers and brokers of:
- Dried prawns for human consumption
- Cnidarians, echinoderms, tunicates and poriferans that are fresh or have undergone minimal processing
- Feathers (loose feathers or manufactured articles made with feathers) that have been treated prior to export by one of the departments approved treatments
- Tanned hides and skins, restricted to uses other than animal consumption, environmental purposes, growing purposes or veterinary therapeutic use
- Untanned hides and skins from New Zealand, restricted to uses other than animal consumption, environmental purposes, growing purposes or veterinary therapeutic use.
What has changed?
New CBIS direction issued for consignment lines not selected for inspection
The department is improving one of the biosecurity directions issued by the Compliance-Based Intervention Scheme (CBIS). This change will take effect on 30 June 2026 for the following CBIS-eligible import pathways:
| Import pathway | Eligible tariff codes | Intervention measure |
|---|
| Dried prawns for human consumption | 1605.21, 1605.29, and 0306.95 | Inspection |
| Cnidarians, echinoderms, tunicates and poriferans that are fresh or have undergone minimal processing | 0307.9, 0308, 1604.19, 1604.20, 1605.54, 1605.6 | Inspection |
| Feathers (loose feathers or manufactured articles made with feathers) that have been treated prior to export by one of the departments approved treatments | 6701, 0505.10 | Inspection |
| Tanned hides and skins, restricted to uses other than animal consumption, environmental purposes, growing purposes or veterinary therapeutic use | 4104, 4105, 4106, 4302 | Inspection |
| Untanned hides and skins from New Zealand, restricted to uses other than animal consumption, environmental purposes, growing purposes or veterinary therapeutic use | 4101, 4102, 4103, and 4301 | Inspection |
Importers and brokers will notice a new direction issued when eligible consignment lines have not been selected for inspection.
Instead of receiving a 'CBIS – documentation' direction, they will instead receive a 'Movement withheld - CBIS Pending documentation' direction.
The 'Movement withheld - CBIS Pending documentation' direction provides clearer guidance on next steps in the biosecurity clearance process and outlines the relevant provisions of the Biosecurity Act 2015. Further directions or notices regarding the goods will then be given by a biosecurity officer.
The new direction also removes document assessments counting towards inspection compliance history in the CBIS. Inspection rates will instead be based solely on inspection outcomes, improving the accuracy of risk-based intervention settings and aligning more closely with the continuous sampling plan framework that underpins the design of CBIS.
What do I need to do?
Importers and brokers do not need to do anything differently. There are no changes to the import conditions. There is no change to the documentation required or the mandatory biosecurity document assessment process. Non-compliant documentation may still result in export or destruction of the goods.
To qualify for risk-based intervention under CBIS, importers and brokers must continue to:
- import an eligible commodity under an eligible tariff
- answer the new profile questions outlined below accurately
- meet import conditions for the goods.
Further information
If you require further information, please email the CBIS program on CBIS@aff.gov.au. Alternatively, please contact Imports on 1800 900 090 or imports@aff.gov.au.
More information on CBIS is available on the department's webpage Compliance-Based Intervention Scheme (CBIS).
Biosecurity import conditions are available on the department's Biosecurity Import Conditions database (BIC