The Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment has issued a new industry advice notice regarding sea container measures to protect against the khapra beetle. The following highlights key takeaways from this latest notice.
Who does this khapra beetle notice affect?
Stakeholders in the import and shipping industries, including vessel masters, freight forwarders, treatment providers, Biosecurity Industry Participants, importers, customs brokers, principal shipping agents, and any other operators in the sea container supply and logistics chain.
What has changed?
Additional measures under Phase 6A of the khapra beetle urgent actions will commence on 12 July 2021. These additional measures will introduce mandatory offshore treatment requirements for all FCL/FCX sea containers packed with all types of goods in a target risk country and unpacked in a rural grain growing area of Australia. To assist in preparing stakeholders for these changes, a specific web page outlining the sea container measures is available.
Summary of measures
Type of target risk: FCL/FCX container where goods are packed into the sea container in a khapra beetle target risk country and will be unpacked in a rural grain growing area of Australia. Note: The import conditions will be included in the BICON case Noncommodity cargo clearance on 12 July 2021.
Implementation date: Will commence on 12 July 2021 (containers exported on or after 12 July 2021)
How to comply: Containers must be treated offshore (prior to packing*) using an approved treatment option and accompanied by a valid treatment certificate. *Note: treatment of containers already loaded with goods is acceptable for methyl bromide treatment only.
Please note that updated policies relating to the Class 19 approved arrangements (NCCC and AEPCOMM) will come into effect on 12 July 2021 and will be published in their usual locations from this date. These include the:
- Non-commodity information requirements policy
- Class 19 requirements and conditions policies
- Compliance classifications for broker class approved arrangements guide
Target Risk Countries
Khapra beetle is found throughout Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. The department has identified the following countries as
those where the khapra beetle is present:
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- Bangladesh
- Benin
- Burkina Faso
- Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
- Cyprus
- Egypt
- Ghana
- Greece
- India
- Iran, Islamic Republic of
- Iraq
- Israel
- Kuwait
- Lebanon
- Libya
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Morocco
- Myanmar
- Nepal
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- Senegal
- Somalia
- South Sudan
- Sri Lanka
- Sudan
- Syrian Arab Republic
- Timor-Leste
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- United Arab Emirates
- Yemen
Rural Grain Growing Areas
The DAWE have developed a list of postcodes that will be used to classify rural grain growing areas. The list is available here.
Note: Within split postcodes, mandatory offshore treatment requirements will only apply to containers being unpacked in the
areas classified as rural. Postcode classifications can be found using the department’s postcode classification search tool.
In short, this means any commodity coming from one of the listed target risk countries packed in a container MUST be fumigated at approved premises (not dissimilar to BMSB rules) if unpacking in any of the noted postcodes. It is important to note that unlike the brown marmirated stink bugs, it appears commodities cannot be fumigated in Australia, they must be done off-shore.
This notice applies to anything sailing on or after the 12 July. For more information head to the Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.
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