Today (22 September 2023) The Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) has issued advice notice 200-2023: ‘Import Document Assessment Delays.’ They anticipate receiving high volumes of entry lodgements and expect this trend to continue with the onset of the 2023-24 Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) season.
DAFF anticipates that its ability to meet the client service standards timeframes for the assessment of Import documentation of Non-urgent commodities will “come under further pressure in the short to medium term.” However, they say that they will continue to meet the published service standards timeframes for Urgent commodities.
DAFF says it has not been immune to the workforce pressures which have been experienced by the broader economy – tight labour markets have created capacity pressure through staff retention and attraction challenges. Budgetary pressures leading to recruitment restrictions during the 2023-24 financial year have impacted their ability to achieve desired staffing levels.
Self-Assessed Clearance (SAC) workload remains at high levels and is expected to increase in the lead up to the traditional Christmas peak.
DAFF has implemented a range of strategies to assist with the management of workload. These include: A review of the risk associated with various commodities coming into Australia; Recruitment of 30 new staff and temporary diversion of workforce capacity to document assessment functions; Requests to perform document assessments outside of business hours will continue to be facilitated subject to capacity.
Importers and brokers can assist by ensuring that documents are lodged well in advance of arrival of the goods.
Raed our related article: Preparing for the new Stink Bug Season
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