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Unaccompanied Effects - Information for International Passengers

 


Unaccompanied Personal Effects (UPEs) includes your household and personal items that you are importing into Australia. To import items as UPEs you must be an arriving person from a place outside Australia and the items must be your personal property that you owned whilst overseas.

 

Personal Effects Calculator

 

Customs and Tax Law provides a Duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) free concession for certain items imported as UPEs provided all of the requirements listed below;

  • You must have recently travelled or intend to travel to Australia,
  • The goods must be your own personal property,
  • Your must have owned and used the items for 12 months or more (personal clothing, footwear and grooming items excluding fur products and perfume concentrates do not need to be owned and used for 12 months if you are a permanent resident)

Goods that owned for less than 12 months will be subject to Duty and GST assessment.

Unaccompanied Personal Effects DO NOT include the following items:

  • Motor vehicles
  • Motor vehicle parts
  • Commercial goods

When bringing in your personal effects and household goods into Australia they have to be cleared with Customs and Quarantine. You can do this yourself or nominate someone else to do this for you, or request our company to do this for you. As an owner of the UPE you must complete an Unaccompanied Personal Effects Statement (Form B534) to have the goods cleared by Customs. The B534 MUST be completed by the owner of the goods.

DOCCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR CLEARING PERSONAL EFFECTS

  • Fully completed Australian Unaccompanied Personal Effects Statement (B534)
  • Copy of your house bill of lading
  • A detailed inventory list of your cargo
  • Copies of your passport including clear photo page

FULL CONTAINERS

If your goods are arriving as a full container, the container will have to be unpacked and inspected by Quarantine at a government approved quarantine depot. Containers cannot be delivered to residential addresses. The contents will be delivered to the residential premises following release from Customs and AQIS

LESS THAN CONTAINER LOADS

Once containers have been unpacked, and goods are available, you generally have 3 days to collect your shipment, after that storage will apply. Quarantine will want to inspect your shipment

UPEs are subject to physical examination by Customs and AQIS, this inspection is detailed and thorough and a charge is levied for this inspection, all charges must be paid in full before the shipment can be released for delivery, storage or collection.

As Australia’s first line of defence in protecting our unique environment against exotic pests and diseases, all shipments of household goods and personal effects are inspected by officers from the

Australian Quarantine Inspection Service to ensure that there are no prohibited items included in the shipment that may be harmful to Australia or its people.

PROHIBITED GOODS

AQIS will not permit the importation of the following items are personal effects;

  • Fresh fruit and vegetables
  • Live plants and bulbs
  • Prohibited and restricted seeds
  • Unidentified seeds
  • Live animals
  • Biological products
  • Unprocessed goods
  • Soiled items
  • Items knowingly infested with pests of a disease

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