Changes

To provide clarity, consistency and a central location for stakeholders to find information relevant to offshore treatment assurance schemes or offshore treatment providers, impacted BICON cases have had the following improvements implemented:

• All scheme specific treatment provider lists have been merged into a single List of Treatment Providers, which can be found on the department's offshore treatment provider webpage. The list now has a search function to assist with finding treatment providers.
• All unregistered treatment providers are listed on the offshore treatment provider webpage within the unregistered treatment provider list, which also now has a search function.
• Updates to treatment provider statuses, which are now consistent across all schemes. The definitions for these can be found on the offshore treatment provider webpage.
• The list of offshore BMSB treatment providers and offshore methyl bromide treatment providers list have been decommissioned to allow for the singular, searchable list. There will no longer be scheme specific lists.

Who does this notice affect:
Stakeholders in the import and shipping industries – including vessel masters, freight forwarders, offshore treatment providers, Biosecurity Industry Participants, importers, customs brokers, principal agents and master consolidators.

What this means for you:

• Offshore treatment providers:
  The list that registered treatment providers are published on is now the List of Treatment Providers. There are no longer lists specific to the scheme that treatment providers are registered under. To allow for harmonisation across schemes, the status category you are published under may have changed, the definition of these status categories will remain the same. There will be no change to the way you are regulated under existing offshore treatment assurance schemes.
  

• Freight forwarders, importers and overseas exporters:
  The web location where you can find offshore treatment providers may have changed. You will now be able to search and filter the List of Treatment Providers according to the treatment type required, country where the treatment will take place, or use the map function to search specific areas.
  
  The language of import conditions is changing, the intent of the existing import conditions will remain the same. BICON will continue to be the location for import conditions and onshore outcomes for the goods you are importing.
  

• Customs brokers:
  The web location where you can find offshore treatment providers may change. To find the status of a treatment provider or relevant Entity Identifier (AEI) details, you will now be able to search and filter the lists (separate for registered and unregistered treatment providers) according to company name, AEI or country where the treatment took place.
  
  There are minor language and terminology changes in the Minimum documentary and import declaration requirements policy document to reflect the changes made to the List of Treatment Providers on the department’s offshore treatment provider webpage. Regardless of these changes, the intent of the policy remains the same. Accredited persons operating under Class 19.1 and 19.2 approved arrangements are still required to report the relevant AEI code for the treatment provider when lodging their import declaration.

Website changes:
These website improvements are effective immediately. You may need to update your hyperlinks or bookmarks for finding offshore treatment providers and related information.

For information on the specific website changes, please refer to the Import Industry Advice Notice 139-2023: Offshore treatment provider list changes.

Further information:
For further information, please contact Offshore Treatments at offshoretreatments@aff.gov.au or phone 1800 900 090.