27/11/2013

To all our valued customers

As a follow up to our bulletin in May 2013 please find a further media release confirming the Australian Governments intention to proceed with increasing the IPC costs for both sea and air shipments into Australia.

If you have any questions please contact your assigned customer solutions representative.

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OPINION: Federal government introduces bill to increase customs fees

A more equitable arrangement would be for an appropriate proportion of operating costs to be borne by the Australian taxpayer in line with the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) border and community protection role.

As previously reported in Lloyd’s List Australia’s news bulletin, we have highlighted the many complexities associated with the assembly order (multiple supplier) cargo reporting issue in terms of systems implications, integration into contemporary commercial practices and meeting statutory reporting outcomes.

The other significant issue emerging from our representation revolved around the impact of any reform affecting the quantum of Import Declarations and therefore, the associated variation in government revenue generated via the Import Processing Charge (IPC) which is made on a per-Import Declaration basis.

This leads to a broader issue relating to the previous Labor government’s May 2013 budget recommendation of a “restructure” to the IPC to recover the costs of all import-related cargo and trade functions undertaken by the ACBPS.

The proposed January 1, 2014 IPC for consignments valued over $10,000 (increasing by $102.60 to $152.60 per sea freight consignment and by $81.90 to $122.10 per airfreight consignment) will place a significant cost burden on importers and will adversely affect cash flow for intermediary Australian logistics service providers.

Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) made a submission to government highlighting the financial impacts on all sectors of commerce and the unfair burden on the import sector.

The submission particularly focused on the Australian retail sector which in particular will feel the impact of fee increases as it provides a further commercial advantage to those that purchase goods online from overseas valued under $1000 as they are exempt from paying duty, GST and any form of IPC.

It appears as though the current government sees merit in progressing the IPC increase as outlined in the Import Processing Charges Amendment Bill 2013.

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