OPINION: Quarantine – an unfair charging system yet customs brokers do most of the work

AS a corporate customs brokerage we pay the Australian Border Force $2400 for a three-year customs brokerage licence; in 2017 the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (Quarantine) implemented an approved arrangement charge (ARC) for customs brokerages – at an annual price of $2900.

I have no issue with the ABF corporate customs brokerage licence charge, as it equates to $800 a year. Since 2017, Quarantine has reduced the $2900 fee on an occasion and waived the fee on occasions, but on 21 March this year customs brokerages received an invoice for $2900, less a $2400 remission with an amount owing of $500.

Quarantine is a user-pay system. Every import air and sea freight customs declaration submitted via the Integrated Cargo System with a value over $1000 pays a direct fee to Quarantine ranging from $38 for air freight shipments and $49 for sea freight shipments and if the customs declaration needs to be further assessed by a Quarantine officer a further fee is paid for document processing. The document processing fee is based on the time taken for the Quarantine officer to assess the paperwork and the fee is a minimum charge of $30.

If the goods need to be inspected then there is a further charge for the time taken to inspect the goods. The current charging system charges the importer and the customs brokerage, yet customs brokers do a great deal of the work to protect the borders in having the paperwork prepared correctly.

If a customs brokerage has one customs broker they pay the same approved arrangement charge as a company that has 50 brokers; if XYZ Pty Ltd has one broker then they are expected to pay the ABF and Quarantine combined annual fees of $3700 and if XYZ Pty Ltd has fifty brokers they would pay the ABF and Quarantine combined fees of $3700.

I don’t see the equity or fairness in that situation.

My first question is why did Quarantine believe that the ARC was worth $2900 in 2017 when the ABF only charges $800 a year?

My second question is why is there even an ARC considering that customs brokers do most of the work and carry most of the risk and responsibility through these approved arrangements?

Peter McRae has been a customs broker for 24 years and has operated Platinum Freight management since 2000. TAFE NSW has employed him for 14 years as a lecturer in customs broking, concentrating on the classification of commodities that enter and exit Australia.