The Australian Government has announced changes to the immigration and border protection portfolio in relation to future border protection arrangements.

From 1 July 2015, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) will be consolidated into a single Department of Immigration and Border Protection called Australian Border Force (ABF).

Read on to learn about the new Australian Border Force department coming into effect today.

The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) has issued a fact sheet to outline the why it may not accept pro forma and/or electronically created documents as evidence of the actual price paid on the imported goods.

Coming into effect on 1 January 2014 the import processing charges for air, sea and post consignment with a value of $ 10,000 and more is going to increase. Current import processing charges for consignments with a value of $1,000 to $10,000 are not going to change. Consignments with a value of $1,000 or less will continue to not have any import processing charges.

The Import Processing Charges Amendment Bill 2013 has currently passed both Houses of Parliament. The Royal Assent is expected to be completed shortly. As an amendment to the Import Processing Charges Act 2001 the Bill will introduce a two-tiered schedule of charges, you can see below.

At BCR we undertake a review of previously lodged Import Declarations for new customers. I am always surprised how often we discover products that had been incorrectly classified! As the National Customs Manger, when I inform our new customers of how much money they have overpaid due to incorrect classifications, most of them are shocked and frustrated with their previous Customs Broker.