Approved Arrangement 14.4 – Impediment Free Rural Tailgate Inspections

What is an impediment free consignment?

Goods arriving in Australia may be subject to

biosecurity control. Goods that are not of

biosecurity concern but going to a rural area

still require inspection as the non-commodity

(the container as an example) poses a risk to

Australia’s biosecurity and biodiversity.

We have been working with the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment for much of 2021/22 advocating for and in the codesign of the recently developed 14.4 Approved Arrangement. This agreement authorises industry to perform rural tailgate inspections on impediment-free consignments.

Under the AA14.4 industry will be eligible to

perform the inspection on the container given

there is no commodity risk. Containers with a

commodity risk are out of scope for the

AA14.4 and will still require a biosecurity

officer to conduct the inspection.

We welcome the advancement of this important reform that will allow finite departmental resources to be directed to higher-risk pathways.

This accords with our resolute aspiration to simultaneously strengthen biosecurity and improve trade facilitation.

A quick reference card can be accessed HERE.