Changes

As advised through the BICON alert issued on 24 June 2022, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (the department) has removed the requirement for an import permit for celery, chervil and fennel seeds.

Effective immediately, importers are no longer required to possess an import permit for imports of celery, chervil and fennel seeds for the following end uses:

• Seed for sowing
• Seed for human consumption. This excludes celery and fennel seed for consumption 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.

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

Management of consignments in transit:

• Consignments that arrived in Australian territory prior to 20 July 2022 must still be accompanied by a valid import permit. Consignments that arrive without a valid import permit will be directed for export or disposal.
• Consignments that arrive in Australian territory on or after 20 July 2022 will be permitted entry without an import permit, provided they meet import conditions.

Conditions that apply to seeds for sowing:

Other than the removal of the requirement for an import permit, no other changes have been made to the biosecurity import conditions for celery, chervil or fennel seed for sowing.

From 20 July 2022 onwards:

• Chervil seed (Anthriscus cerefolium and synonyms) must now be imported under the import conditions of the BICON case for ‘Permitted seed for sowing’.

  The import conditions of the ‘Permitted seed for sowing’ case is the same as the import conditions of the BICON case which previously housed the conditions for chervil (‘Anthriscus cerefolium seed for sowing’), which has now been made redundant.

• Celery and fennel seed will continue to be imported under existing biosecurity import conditions listed in the BICON cases for ‘Apium graveolens seed for sowing’ and ‘Foeniculum vulgare seed for sowing’.
  

Conditions that apply to seeds for human consumption:

From 20 July 2022 onwards:

• Chervil seed (Anthriscus cerefolium and synonyms) must now be imported under the import conditions BICON case for ‘Raw seed for human consumption’, instead of ‘Regulated vegetable crop seeds for human consumption’.

  The following changes have been made to the import conditions for Chervil seed:

  1. Moist heat treatment or germination testing is no longer a requirement for chervil seeds for human consumption.
  2. ISTA purity testing (either onshore or offshore) is now required to address the contamination risk in imported chervil seed consignments.

• Celery and fennel seed will continue to be imported under the existing biosecurity import conditions listed in the BICON cases for ‘Celery seed for human consumption’ and ‘Fennel seed for human consumption’.

Impacted permit holders:
The department has varied all impacted import permits for celery, chervil and fennel seeds for sowing and consumption.

• All permits issued exclusively for celery chervil and fennel have been revoked.
• All permits issued to other commodities (other than celery, chervil and fennel) that still require an import permit have been varied to remove the import conditions for these impacted species.

Important note: Import permits that have been varied will retain their original expiry date, though they will be issued a new import permit number.


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 do not require a permit for import to Australia.

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