On these pages you will learn the requirements for the pre- and post arrival reporting of cargo arriving by air and sea, the different types of cargo reports and the reporting and clearance requirements for various types of business models. It also includes information about reporting and handling processes for in-transit and transhipped goods.
A key concept governing the Cargo Reporting and Import framework is the definition of ‘consignment’ and determining who the consignor and consignee of a consignment is.
Consignor and Consignee
For the purposes of a cargo report, the Customs Act relevantly defines:
- a ‘consignor’ as a supplier of goods who is located outside Australia and initiates the sending of goods to a person outside Australia, or complies with a request from a person in a place outside Australia to send goods to that person.
- a ‘consignee’ as the ultimate recipient of goods that have been sent from outside Australia, whether or not that person ordered or paid for the goods.
Reporting the details of a logistics service provider in either the ‘consignor’ or ‘consignee’ field of a cargo report does not meet legislative requirements if:
- the logistics service provider is not the supplier of the goods or the ultimate recipient but is an intermediary or service provider (for example, a consolidator or freight forwarder)
- the required information in relation to the supplier of goods is available to the cargo reporter.
The requirement to report consignor and consignee details does not apply to cargo reporters who have entered into an arrangement for the carriage of the consignment on behalf of another cargo reporter. The nominated cargo reporter will then become the responsible party to supply a further cargo report for that cargo, at the House Bill level under ‘Cascade Cargo Reporting’.
What is a ‘consignment’?
Air Cargo Reports, Sea Cargo Reports, Import (and Export) Declarations, and Self-Assessed Clearance Declarations are made at the ‘consignment level’.
Australian Customs Notice (ACN) No. 2021/01 provides guidance on the meaning of ‘consignment’ for the purposes of section 68 of the
Customs Act 1901 (the ‘Customs Act’). A consignment typically consists of goods that form part of a single order between a consignor and consignee. The goods within a single order do not have to arrive at the same time to be considered a single consignment. Similarly orders made at different times may also be considered by the ABF to be a single consignment. Such a determination may be made if there is evidence that the orders were deliberately made to take advantage of the AUD 1,000 duty threshold.
