Packing Declaration Australia: FCL, LCL and Annual (DAFF)

When a packing declaration is needed and who signs it

Australia's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) requires a packing declaration for Full Container Load consignments, including reefers that are not hard frozen, and for Less than Container Load consignments. It is not required for air freight or break bulk cargo, which DAFF checks through routine surveillance instead. DAFF's policy distinguishes FCL (one supplier, one importer), FCX (a full container from several suppliers to one importer) and LCL (several suppliers and importers in one container).

The declaration must be issued by the exporter, supplier or packer who packed the goods into the container, or who watched the container being packed; a consolidator who packs LCL cargo into the container counts as the packer. The aim is that the person who signs had real oversight of the packing. If the issuer is in a different country from where the goods were packed, a biosecurity officer may ask for evidence of how it packed or observed the packing.

The DAFF forms: FCL/X, LCL and annual

In December 2024 (Import Industry Advice Notice 297-2024) DAFF published separate templates for FCL/X and LCL consignments, annual versions of both, a stand-alone container cleanliness declaration, a fact sheet and examples of acceptable and unacceptable declarations. The templates are optional: a company's own document is accepted if it meets the policy requirements, and earlier versions of the templates remain acceptable on the same condition. The fact sheet is also published in Chinese (Simplified), German, Japanese, Malay and Thai (IIAN 265-2025).

• FCL/X packing declaration: one consignment, with the container cleanliness statement in the past tense.
• LCL packing declaration: one consignment, without any cleanliness statement.
• FCL annual and LCL annual packing declarations: valid for 12 months; the exporter's and importer's names replace the consignment link, and the FCL version has the cleanliness statement in the future tense.
• FCX containers with goods from several suppliers usually need a consignment-specific declaration, because the container number is the link to the consignment.

What the declaration says

The declaration answers a set of questions. Give one clear answer to each: DAFF does not accept documents with conflicting information, for example declaring that no timber was used and then ticking untreated timber.

• Unacceptable packaging: whether any was used as packaging or dunnage. DAFF's fact sheet lists bark, chaff, hay, rice hulls, sandbags, soil bags, used empty bags, used egg cartons, used meat cartons, used tyres and compressed non-timber material such as strawboard; the template also names straw, peat and used fruit and vegetable cartons. Straw packing is prohibited.
• Timber or bamboo packaging: whether timber or bamboo was used as a shipping aid, such as cases, crates, pallets, bearers, beams, skids, load boards, drums and blocks. Packaging made entirely of reconstituted wood, bamboo laminate, or plywood or veneer does not have to be declared.
• Treatment, only if timber or bamboo was declared: treated and marked in compliance with ISPM 15 (timber only, not bamboo), treated to DAFF's requirements with a treatment certificate, or not treated. Timber or bamboo without evidence of treatment is directed for inspection or treatment.
• Container cleanliness, FCL/X only: that the container has been cleaned and is free from material of animal or plant origin and soil (annual form: will be cleaned and will be free). Do not put this statement on an LCL declaration.

Letterhead, consignment link, date and signature

DAFF checks the form of the document as closely as its answers. The declaration must be on the issuing company's letterhead showing the company name and physical address; the only substitute for letterhead is the company's stamp or seal. A consignment-specific declaration needs a unique link to the shipment, such as container numbers, bill of lading numbers, commercial invoice or packing list numbers, lot codes or letter of credit numbers. Weights, numbers of packages, dates or item codes are not acceptable links on their own.

Date the declaration with the day, month and year on which it is issued, ideally after the goods are packed; the date may be before or after export. On a consignment-specific declaration the vessel and voyage can stand in for a missing date, but not on an annual declaration. An employee of the issuing company endorses it with a signature or individual stamp and the printed name, placed after the statements. A company stamp that does not identify a person is not enough, and DAFF's examples reject a printed name without a signature. Any alteration must be endorsed by an employee of the issuing company.

Errors in DAFF's examples of unacceptable declarations

• No physical address of the issuing company.
• Conflicting answers to the timber or bamboo question and the treatment question.
• A cleanliness statement removed from an LCL form without an endorsed alteration.
• A printed name but no signature.
• No date and no voyage number.

Packing declaration, ISPM 15 and BMSB

The ISPM 15 mark is stamped on the timber itself; the packing declaration is a separate statement about the whole consignment, and its ISPM 15 option does not cover bamboo. Timber packaging must also meet the bark tolerance: pieces of bark less than 3 cm wide, or wider than 3 cm with a surface area under 50 square centimetres each. Brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) seasonal measures, which apply to target goods shipped from 1 September 2026 to 30 April 2027, are separate and need their own treatment evidence. New Zealand uses its own sea container quarantine declaration; check MPI's current import health standard for sea containers.