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?