. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/AUS/208 
3 January 2007 
 (07-0009) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  AUSTRALIA
 
If applicable, name of local government involved:   
2. Agency responsible:  Biosecurity Australia 
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):   Plant seeds.  
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable:  All 
countries. 
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  The Permitted Seeds 
List Review – Finalisation of the review. 
6. Description of content:  In consultation with stakeholde rs Biosecurity Australia has 
undertaken a review of the Permitted Seeds lis t.  The review identified over 32,000 species 
from almost 3,000 currently permitted genera that were considered to be present in Australia and not under official control.  A ll genus level listings have been removed from 
the permitted seeds list and replace with species le vel listings for those species recorded as 
being present in Australia and not under official control.  
The necessary legislative changes to Schedule 5 of the Quarantine Proclamation 1998 were 
made on 20 December 2006.  The Australian Qu arantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) is 
updating the import conditions (ICON) database accordingly (www.aqis.gov.au/icon).  
The removal of species from the permitted seeds list is not a blanket exclusion of these 
species.  At any time importers can apply fo r Biosecurity Australia to undertake a Weed 
Risk Assessment (WRA) on any species (even if  the species has previously been assessed 
by a WRA and new information has become available) to determine the weed potential of the species in Australian agricultural systems and/or the environment. 
7. Objective and rationale: [   ] food safety,  [   ] animal health,  [ X ] plant protection, 
[   ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [ X ] protect territory from other damage from pests   
8. International standard, guideline or recommendation: 
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission,  [   ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [ X ] International Plant Protection Convention,  [   ] None 
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate 
reference and briefly identify deviations:   G/SPS/N/AUS/208 
Page 2  
 
  9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  Not applicable. 
10. Proposed date of adoption:  20 December 2006 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  20 December 2006  
12. Final date for comments:   
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [ X ] National notification 
authority, [   ] National enquiry point,  or 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 Available (in  English) from http :/www.daff.gov.au/plantbiosecurity  
13. Texts available from:  [ X ] National notifi cation authority, [   ] National enquiry 
point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body: