Alerts

The purpose of this notification is to advise stakeholders that the department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (the department) is planning to remove the import permit requirement for celery, chervil and fennel seeds, that are imported for the following end uses:

• Seed for sowing
• Seed for human consumption

This change applies to the following species and their synonyms and sub-ordinate taxa:

Celery, chervil and fennel seeds for sowing:

From 20 July 2022 the requirement for an importer to possess an import permit will be removed for all celery, chervil and fennel seeds imported for sowing.

Consignments that are imported on or after 20 July 2022 will not need to be accompanied by a valid import permit.

What do I need to know?

Transitional arrangements are not required for consignments that are in transit, as no changes are being made to the import conditions for celery, chervil or fennel seed.

From 20 July 2022:

• Chervil seed may be imported as permitted seed for sowing, under the import conditions of the BICON Case for ‘Permitted seed for sowing’ instead of ‘Anthriscus cerefolium seed for sowing’. The import conditions of the Permitted seed case are the same as the import conditions of current permits issued for chervil seed.
  
• Celery and Fennel seed will continue to be imported under existing biosecurity import conditions listed in the ‘Apium graveolens seed for sowing’ and ‘Foeniculum vulgare seed for sowing’ BICON Cases.
  
  

Celery, chervil and fennel seeds for human consumption:

From 20 July 2022, the import permit requirement will be removed for fennel, celery, and chervil seeds for human consumption. The only exception is for celery and fennel seed imported under option of controlled atmospheric treatment under pressure to manage Trogoderma (e.g. khapra beetle) risks, which will continue to require an import permit.

Chervil seed only:
Changes to import conditions, effective 20 July:

• Moist heat treatment, or germination testing will be removed from the import requirements for chervil seeds for human consumption.
• As a result of removing these treatments, ISTA purity testing (onshore or offshore) will be required to address the contamination risk of imported chervil seed consignments.
• Chervil seed may be imported under the import conditions of the BICON case for ‘Raw seed for human consumption’, instead of ‘Regulated vegetable crop seeds for human consumption’.
  
  

Impacted permit holders:
The department will shortly contact all affected import permit holders of celery, chervil and fennel seed for sowing and consumption to provide further information in relation to varying or revoking impacted permits in line with the above changes.

As these permit variations will be initiated by the department, the variation will be performed at no cost to permit holders.

Who does this notice affect?
Importers (and their customs brokers) of celery, chervil and fennel seed species imported for sowing and human consumption, and department staff.

Background:
As a result of the changes made in December 2021 to remove measures to manage Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum (CaLsol) on apiaceous seed for sowing, celery, chervil and fennel seed no longer require Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing or hot water treatment to manage CaLsol.

These three apiaceous species are not known hosts to any other pathogens of quarantine concern and do not require testing/treatment measures in addition to those in place for standard measures for seeds, to achieve Australia’s appropriate level of protection. Consequently, these species may be imported without a permit.

Further information:
Please contact Plant Import Operations on 1800 900 090 or email imports@awe.gov.au (please title the subject line of the email ‘Plant T2’).