Import Conditions

Case: Raw and sun dried tobacco Effective 29 May 2020 to 01 Sep 2020

1. A Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment import permit is not required.

2. These conditions only apply to unprocessed raw and sun dried tobacco. The importation of cut rag, cigarettes, cigars or roll your own (RYO) products are not subject to biosecurity control.

Warnings and Information Notices


Tobacco seeds and plants are also regulated by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). More information can be found on the ATO website.
Additionally, new requirements for Tobacco products commenced 1 July 2019, please refer to Australian Border Force.


3. Tobacco is also a prohibited plant under Schedule 1 of Standard 1.4.4 ‘Prohibited and Restricted Plants and Fungi’, of the Australian Food Standards Code. A plant, or a part or a derivative of a plant listed in schedule 1, or any substance derived there from, must not be intentionally added to food or offered for sale as food in Australia.

4. Any packaging used with the consignment must be clean and new.

5. All consignments will be referred to Customs, before being processed by the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.

6. Each consignment will be subject to an inspection to verify that it is free of seeds, live insects, soil and other biosecurity risk material.

7. Consignments will be subject to one of the following prior to release:

   1. Heat treatment, hot air at not less than 85°C for at least 8 hours once the core temperature has been reached.
      Caution: Products may smoulder or ignite with heat treatment.
      

   2. Ethylene oxide fumigation, under initial minimum vacuum of 50 kilopascals at 1200g/m³ for 5 hours at 50ºC; or 1500g/m³ for 24 hours at 21ºC.
      

   3. Gamma irradiation at 25kGray.
      

   4. Processing at a class 3.0 AA site.
      

8. The goods must be clean and free of contaminant seed, soil, animal and plant debris and other biosecurity risk material prior to arrival in Australian territory.

9. If biosecurity risk material such as live insects, soil, seeds, animal material or faecal matter is found on inspection, the consignment must be held and the contaminants must be treated using an approved method by the department, exported or disposed of at the importer’s expense.

10. Under the Biosecurity Charges Imposition (General) Regulation 2016 and Chapter 9, Part 2 of the Biosecurity Regulation 2016, fees are payable to the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment for all services. Detail on how the department applies fees and levies may be found in the Charging guidelines.

11. In addition to the conditions for the goods being imported, non-commodity concerns must be assessed including container cleanliness, packaging and destination concerns, and may be subject to inspection and treatment on arrival. Please refer to the Non-Commodity Cargo Clearance BICON case for further information.