Australia raises import biosecurity charges from 1 July 2026
Since 1 July 2026, Australia's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) has raised the biosecurity cost recovery charges applied to each Full Import Declaration, to 48 Australian dollars for air freight and 71 Australian dollars for sea freight. Processing fees for the declaration itself are also increasing.
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Since 1 July 2026, DAFF has applied a 3.8% indexation to most of its biosecurity and imported food charges subject to this mechanism, along with targeted adjustments to other fees.
In practice, the biosecurity charge per Full Import Declaration rises to 48 Australian dollars for goods arriving by air and 71 Australian dollars for those arriving by sea. The Full Import Declaration processing charge is rising in parallel, to 38 Australian dollars for air freight and 49 Australian dollars for sea freight.
DAFF also amended its biosecurity charging legislation: introducing a new charge for live garden snails, removing provisions that had become unused on import permit assessment and horse breeding, and revising the cost recovery charges applicable to bird imports. These changes also took effect on 1 July 2026.
All importers lodging a Full Import Declaration in Australia are affected, regardless of the origin of the goods, as soon as they are subject to biosecurity control by the Australian Border Force and DAFF.
What it changes for an importer
For an importer bringing goods from China into Australia, this increase translates into an additional fixed cost, modest but systematic, on every Full Import Declaration, on top of the customs duties and GST already owed. It does not change the underlying rules on what is allowed entry. Sorva can factor this charge into the landed cost calculation provided to the client before shipment, without ever carrying out customs clearance in Australia itself, which remains the responsibility of the importer or their local freight forwarder.
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