G/SPS/N/AUS/319  
 
28 May 2013  
(13-2815)  Page: 1/3  
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
 NOTIFICATION 
1. Notifying Member:  AUSTRALIA 
If applicable, name of local government involved:    
2. Agency responsible:  Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry 
(DAFF) 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item  number(s) as specified in national 
schedules deposited with the WTO;  ICS numbers should be provided in 
addition, where applicable):  General application for people, goods, vessels, and 
aircraft entering Australian territory. 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected , to the extent relevant or practicable: 
[X] All trading partners   
[ ] Specific regions or countries:    
5. Title of the notified document:  Release of Biosecurity Regulations   Language(s):  
English  Number of pages:  17 pages 
http://www.daff.gov.au/bira  and http://www.daff.gov.au/igb  
6. Description of content:  As outlined in G/SPS/N/AUS/298, the Australian Government 
has developed new biosecurity legislation to replace the century-old Quarantine 
Act 1908. 
The original notification and subsequent addenda provided information relating to the 
release of the draft Biosecurity Bill 2012 and the Inspector-General of Biosecurity 
Bill 2012 and responses to concerns raised by Members. 
If passed by the Australian Parliament, the Biosecurity Bill 2012 and the Inspector-
General of Biosecurity Bill 2012 would author ise the making of a number of different 
types of subordinate instruments. The Regulations that refer to the Biosecurity Import Risk Analysis (BIRA) and the Inspector-General of Biosecurity (IGB) have been released 
for discussion and can be accessed on the website of the Department of Agriculture, 
Fisheries and Forestry ( http://www.daff.gov.au/bira  and http://www.daff.gov.au/igb ). 
The draft BIRA and IGB Regulations form only a part of the Biosecurity Regulations and 
further parts will be released into the future. 
The BIRA process is proposed to replace the current Import Risk Analysis (IRA) process 
provided for at Part 6A of the Quarantine Regulations 2000. Section 163 of the 
Biosecurity Bill provides that a BIRA is an evaluation of the level of biosecurity risk associated with particular goods, or a particular class of goods, that may be imported, or are proposed to be imported, into Australian territory. The BIRA Regulations set out the 
steps, time limits, content requirements and other matters relating to the completion of 
a BIRA. 
The Inspector-General of Biosecurity Regula tion 2013 (IGB Regulation) supplement the 
Inspector-General of Biosecurity Bill (IGB Bill) and set out the time period for a request for a review of the process of conducting a BIRA and the requirements for the 
publication of a report on a BIRA review. The IGB Regulation also prescribes the 
allowances that may be paid to the Inspector-General. G/SPS/N/AUS/319 
 
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  The draft Regulations will be released as th ey become available and are being published 
for discussion purposes. Information about final dates for comment and future 
consultation activities will be provided fo llowing the current Parliamentary processes. 
Australia will notify Members of future  releases of subordinate legislation. 
The Biosecurity Bill 2012 and Inspector-General of Biosecurity Bill 2012 are currently 
before the Australian Parliament. Amendments made to the Bills in response to changes made through the Parliamentary process would need to be considered in making 
Regulations. Regulations will, therefore, not be finalised until after the Bills are passed. 
Progression of both Bills can be tracked through the Australian Parliament House website (http://www.aph.gov.au ). 
Subject to passage of the primary legislation through the Australian Parliament, it is 
proposed that there will be another opportunity for member countries to provide 
comments during a 60 day consultation period.  
7. Objective and rationale:  [ ] food safety, [X] animal health, [X] plant 
protection, [X] protect humans from animal /plant pest or disease, [X] protect 
territory from other damage from pests.    
8. Is there a relevant international st andard?  If so, identify the standard:  
[ ] Codex Alimentarius Commission (e.g.  title or seri al number of Codex 
standard or related text)   
[ ] World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) (e.g. Terrestrial or Aquatic 
Animal Health Code, chapter number)    
[ ] International Plant Protection Convention (e.g. ISPM number)    
[X] None 
Does this proposed regulation conform to the relevant international standard?   
 [ ] Yes   [ ] No 
 If no, describe, whenever possible,  how and why it deviates from the 
international standard:    
9. Other relevant documents and language (s) in which these are available:  The 
draft Regulations and explanatory material are available on the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry website http://www.daff.gov.au/bira  and 
http://www.daff.gov.au/igb . These are available in English. The Biosecurity Bill 2012 and 
Inspector-General of Biosecurity Bill 2012 can be accessed at the Australian Parliament 
website http://www.aph.gov.au  (available in English). 
10. Proposed date of adoption (dd/mm/yy) :  To be determined. 
Proposed date of publication (dd/mm/yy) :  To be determined. 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  [ ] Six months from date of publication , 
and/or  (dd/mm/yy) :  The primary legislation has been introduced into the Australian 
Parliament. It is estimated that the operation of the legislation will commence 
12 months after it has received Royal Assent. The final Regulations will state their 
implementation date.  
[X] Trade facilitating measure   G/SPS/N/AUS/319 
 
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  12. Final date for comments:  [ ] Sixty days  from the date of circulation of the 
notification and/or (dd/mm/yy) :  To be determined. 
Agency or authority designated to handle  comments:  [X] National Notification 
Authority, [X] National Enquiry Point.  Address, fax number and e-mail address 
(if available) of other body:   
The Australian SPS Notification Point 
GPO Box 858  
Canberra ACT 2601 Australia 
Fax: +(61 2) 6272 3678 
E-mail: sps.contact@daff.gov.au 
13. Texts available from:  [X] National Notifi cation Authority, [X] National Enquiry 
Point.  Address, fax number and e-mail address (if available) of other body:    
The Australian SPS Notification Point  
GPO Box 858  
Canberra ACT 2601 
Australia Fax: +(61 2) 6272 3678 
E-mail: sps.contact@daff.gov.au