Revised Approved Arrangements General Policies

Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) wish to advise that the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (the department) has issued Industry Advice Notice 243-2023 advising of Revised Approved Arrangements General Policies.

FTA sought clarification and further information from the department's Compliance Controls and Strategy Branch who provided the following advice:

• The department conducted an independent review to explore better ways of managing non-compliance with approved arrangements. They received recommendations from the review, one of which involved moving away from the 'three strikes policy'. This policy gave approved arrangement operators multiple chances to address non-compliance issues before taking further action. However, this process was often time-consuming.

• Instead, the review suggested implementing enforceable undertakings and infringement notices in cases of non-compliance. These methods are expected to be more efficient in addressing non-compliant circumstances compared to the previous show cause processes.

• Additionally, the review recommended replacing the term 'corrective action request' as it was deemed too lenient and not in line with the department's legislative obligation to ensure compliance.

What has Changed? 
Approved arrangements enable businesses to carry out activities to manage biosecurity risks associated with their business activities. The department's policies for its regulation of approved arrangements are outlined in the Approved Arrangements General Policies document. The department has made changes to these policies and reflected these changes in a revised Approved Arrangements General Policies document.

None of these changes affect the:

• conditions and requirements that biosecurity industry participants must comply with,
• frequency of the department's auditing of approved arrangements,
• determination of the audit result (pass or fail),
• process for applying for new or varied approved arrangements, or
• fees and charges associated with approved arrangements.

Summary of key changes
Discontinuing corrective action requests ('CARs'): Corrective action requests are being discontinued for class 1 to 14 approved arrangements (arrangements involving physical handling of goods subject to biosecurity control). Previously, when the department detected noncompliance for these classes of approved arrangement, the department would issue the biosecurity industry participant with a corrective action request. In future, notification of noncompliance will be provided to biosecurity industry participants either:

• in the audit report, when the noncompliance is identified at an audit, or
• on a noncompliance form, when the noncompliance is identified outside of an audit

Similar to the process that applied to corrective action requests, where notification of noncompliance is issued, the department will specify a noncompliance review date in the audit report or on the noncompliance form. The department will subsequently assess whether the approved arrangement remains noncompliant at the noncompliance review date and will determine and advise any further action.

This change will take effect on 27 November 2023.

No routine re-issuing of corrective action requests: Previously, for class 1 to 14 approved arrangements, the department's standard practice was to 're-issue' corrective action requests where the noncompliance was not rectified by the rectification due date. This will no longer be the process going forward. Instead, failure to rectify noncompliance by the noncompliance review date (specified in the audit report or on the noncompliance form) will be assessed for further action in accordance with the department's Compliance Policy. Action may include, but is not limited to, suspension or revocation of the approved arrangement.

This change will take effect on 27 November 2023.

Changed document structure: The Approved Arrangements General Policies document has been divided into three parts for three distinct groups of the approved arrangements, reflecting the different compliance regimes for these groups:

• Part 1 – For approved arrangements involving classes 1 to 14 i.e., approved arrangements for the physical handling of goods subject to biosecurity control.
• Part 2 – For approved arrangements limited to classes 19.1 (non-commodity for containerised cargo clearance) and/or class 19.2 (automatic entry processing for commodities). These approved arrangements are typically operated by biosecurity industry participants who are customs brokers.
• Part 3 – For class 43.1 approved arrangements for disinsection of aircraft.