What to do with your permit
Due to the impacts of coronavirus on working arrangements, stakeholders are requested to contact the Wildlife Trade Sections via email rather than telephone. Please email wps@awe.gov.au with any questions about applying for a permit or for queries relating to existing permit applications. If you have an existing application, please include your application reference number in your email. We will respond to your query as soon as possible.
Under national environment law, permit holders must meet the conditions stated on their permit. These conditions aim to protect the environment by ensuring that international wildlife trade is not detrimental to the survival of species in the wild. Conditions vary according to the type of permit. Permit types and related obligations are provided below:
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Permit types
Single Use Permits
The original copy of a Single Use Permit must accompany the wildlife specimens or products at the time of export or import. You must return a copy to the Wildlife Trade Regulation Section, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment to verify whether the shipment occurred and actual quantities involved.
Multiple Consignment Authorities
If you are granted a Multiple Consignment Authority for (re)export, you will be provided with uniquely numbered Specimen Export Records (SERs) to use with each individual shipment.
The original SER form must accompany the shipment detailing the specimens and quantities exported in the individual shipment, together with a photocopy of the Multiple Consignment Authority. A copy of the SER form must be returned to the Wildlife Trade Regulation Section, within two weeks of the export occurring, to acquit your shipment. The Export Declaration Number (EDN) obtained from the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service should be written on the SER.
If you are granted a Multiple Consignment Authority for import, you will be provided with Import Notification Forms to facilitate the verification of each import shipment. This form, duly completed, must be returned to the Wildlife Trade Regulation Section, together with the original export or re-export permit from the country of (re)export, within two weeks of the import occurring.
Other permits or approvals
Importing country permits
In many cases, the importing country will also need to issue a permit before the wildlife specimen or product is allowed to enter that country. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have all necessary permits before shipping your specimens.
It is also your responsibility to ensure you have meet all of Australia’s import and export requirements before shipping your specimens. These include, but are not limited to:
Department of Home Affairs
Clearance must be obtained from the Department of Home Affairs to import goods into Australia or export goods from Australia. In addition, duty may be payable on imported goods.
Agriculture - Biosecurity
You may also need approval from Agriculture - Biosecurity to export or import a part, product or derivative of an animal or plant.
Complying with permit conditions
Non-compliance
In cases of non-compliance (e.g. illegal import or export of specimens, or possession in Australia of unlawfully imported specimens), the Department will take appropriate action. This may include:
- education and awareness activities
- issuing warning letters
- conducting on-site visits to assess compliance behaviour
- seizure of specimens (at border or post-border)
- investigation with a view to prosecution
- the imposition of penalties such as fines or jail time.
Acquitting your permit
After you use your permit, you must acquit it. A permit acquittal:
- Tells the Department whether a wildlife trade permit has or has not been used, and what specimens were shipped or received under the permit.
- Allows for quicker assessment of your future permit applications, and
- Helps the Department ensure that wildlife trade is legal, sustainable and reportable, which allows us to better protect wildlife.
Permits are acquitted through your Online Services account
Expired or unused permits
If your permit expires or you do not use your permit before the export occurs, you will need to return the original permit and go through the application process again.
Customs procedures for export permits
All goods, regardless of value, that require a wildlife permit for export must be reported to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection on an export declaration prior to being loaded or exported (this includes items being exported via mail).
Exporting to the United States of America (USA)
The United States of America requires that shipments with CITES documents destined for the USA must be validated by the Department of Home Affairs prior to export.
It is the exporter’s responsibility to ensure that the export documentation complies with all USA importing requirements. In particular, it is the exporter’s responsibility to ensure that all required endorsements have been obtained and made in accordance with those requirements, prior to the export of the goods.