26/11/2014

To all our valued customers,

We wish to advise of an apparent increase in focus on low value shipments by the Australian Customs & Border Protection Service (ACBPS) in recent times.

As you would be aware, consignments arriving into Australia with a value below $1,000 AUD may be cleared through Customs and not subject to Duty, GST or entry fees.

Australian Customs are now scrutinising these shipments and may request evidence of payment to confirm these have been correctly declared as a low value importation. In an attempt to satisfy Customs’ concerns and avoid delays, BR International ask that importers keep this in mind and therefore have evidence of payment available for our customs brokers if/when a low value shipment is arriving. Such evidence may be a copy of a bank transfer receipt.

The ACBPS may also request a copy of your PO for such shipments.

Please also be informed that low value consignments forming part of a larger Order do not fit the criteria as a ‘low value import’. Any relevant duties and fees must be paid, irrespective of how small these amounts are.
Documents covering such shipments usually offer no evidence to suggest they are partial PO consignments and our customs brokers would therefore be unaware when declaring this to Customs.

It is therefore important that you notify BR International of any such shipments related to a larger PO, which can then be declared accordingly.

The ACBPS have recently issued relatively severe penalties for incorrectly declared shipments so it is very important this scheme is not incorrectly used.

Should you have any queries or concerns in relation to this matter we recommend you make contact with our Customs team.

This entry was posted in Public News on November 26, 2014 by Aaron Poole.

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