BMSB 2026-27: Target Goods, Treatments and AusTreat for Australia and NZ

Season dates for 2026-27 and what changed

Australia's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) confirmed in Import Industry Advice Notice (IIAN) 151-2026 of 31 August 2026 that the 2026-27 BMSB season began on 1 September 2026. The measures apply to targeted goods manufactured in, or shipped from, target risk countries and shipped between 1 September and 30 April inclusive; IIAN 138-2026 gives the period for sea cargo as 1 September 2026 to 30 April 2027. They also apply to vessels that berth, load or tranship in target risk countries in that period. DAFF's BMSB page judges the shipping date by the shipped-on-board date on the ocean bill of lading, not the port gate-in date.

IIAN 151-2026 lists three changes from 2025-26: ethyl formate is added as an onshore treatment (it was already an offshore option), the Rolled Goods Policy is removed and the Safeguarding Arrangements Scheme is removed. IIAN 130-2026 of 31 July 2026 says data from the last two seasons showed these pathways were less protective than the standard treatment and loading rules; 2025-26 safeguarding approvals no longer have effect.

New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) sets the season by dates, not by year: goods exported from a risk country on or after 1 September, or used, moved to or stored there for more than 5 days before loading, that arrive in New Zealand on or before 30 April. MPI says the risk is generally highest from October to December.

Target risk countries and target goods in Australia

Australia sorts goods by tariff chapter. Target high risk goods need mandatory treatment; target risk goods can be randomly inspected. Other goods are outside the measures unless they share a container or consignment with target goods. The lists below, and the rule that the measures cover new and used goods but not their packaging, are from DAFF's 2025-26 pages (BMSB page last updated 13 April 2026). IIAN 151-2026 names no change to them for 2026-27, but check agriculture.gov.au/bmsb before shipping.

• Target risk countries: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Türkiye, Ukraine, the United States and Uzbekistan. China, Japan and the Republic of Korea are listed for heightened vessel surveillance only.
• Target high risk goods (mandatory treatment): chapters 44 (wood), 45 (cork), 57 (carpets), 68 to 70 (stone, ceramic and glass articles), 72 to 76 and 78 to 83 (iron, steel, other base metals, their articles and tools), 84 and 85 (machinery and electrical equipment) and 86 to 89 (railway equipment, vehicles, aircraft, ships and boats).
• Target risk goods (random inspection): chapters 27 (mineral fuels), 28 and 29 (chemicals), 38 (miscellaneous chemical products), 39 (plastics), 40 (rubber), 48 (paper), 49 (printed matter) and 56 (wadding, felt, nonwovens and cordage).
• Emerging risk countries: the United Kingdom, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea. Their goods can be randomly inspected, and chapters 39, 94 (furniture) and 95 (toys, games and sports goods) are also randomly inspected for these countries only.
• Airfreight: target high risk goods flown from the United States and China can be randomly inspected but need no BMSB treatment. Goods that travel by air and then reach Australia by sea are covered.
• Hubbed or stored goods: in DAFF's LCL/FAK examples (5 August 2026), target risk country goods only hubbed through a non-target country still need treatment; goods stored or sold there need no mandatory treatment but may be inspected.
• NUFT: new, unused and not field tested goods in chapters 82 and 84 to 89 made on or after 1 December of the season can qualify for the NUFT exemption with the manufacturer's declaration.

Offshore or onshore: rules by container type

Where target high risk goods may be treated depends on how they travel. These rules come from DAFF's 2025-26 pages; IIAN 130-2026 (break bulk) and the LCL page (5 August 2026) restate parts for 2026-27. DAFF encourages offshore treatment at container level, as onshore treatment causes delays.

• Sealed six hard-sided containers (FCL/FCX): treatment offshore, or onshore at container level. Refrigerated containers, operating or not, and hard-top sealed containers count as six hard-sided. The container must not be opened or deconsolidated before onshore treatment, so pack the goods so that heat or fumigant can reach them.
• Break bulk: goods on flat racks and in open-top containers, and shipper-owned containers (SOCs) or FCL containers that have been modified, for example with built-in generators, count as break bulk. They must be treated offshore; there is no onshore option, and untreated cargo is denied discharge or directed for export.
• LCL and FAK (freight of all kinds) containers: risk is managed at container level before deconsolidation. Containers with target high risk goods from target risk countries carry a Seasonal Pest Referral (SPREF) on the house bill of lading and get a Seasonal Pest Hold (SP HOLD). The Master Consolidator (MC) should lodge its declaration before the vessel reaches its first Australian port; with no MC contact or declaration after 35 business days, it is directed for export.
• Vehicles: motor vehicles, motorbikes, e-bikes and scooters on a full import declaration need mandatory treatment unless they meet the Australian Border Force's concessional requirements; only household goods and personal effects imported as unaccompanied personal effects are exempt.

Approved treatments and key parameters

Providers must follow DAFF's treatment methodologies and minimum standards. The rates below are from DAFF's BMSB page for 2025-26 (last updated 13 April 2026); IIAN 151-2026 does not restate them, so confirm the current schedule with your provider.

• Heat: 56°C or higher at the coldest surface of the goods for at least 30 minutes. For individual break bulk items under 3,000 kg only, 60°C or higher for at least 10 minutes, with the weight shown on the shipping documents.
• Methyl bromide or sulfuryl fluoride: a dose of 24 g/m³ or more at 10°C or above, either for 12 to under 24 hours with an end point reading of at least 12 g/m³, or for 24 hours or longer with an end point of at least 8 g/m³. No topping up at the end; a reading below the minimum end point means the treatment failed.
• Sulfuryl fluoride dosed with a third-party program (FumiGuide, Fumicalc or FumiTrack): a concentration × time (CT) of 200 g-h/m³ or more at 10°C or above, with the same time and end point limits.
• Ethyl formate: an offshore option in 2025-26 and approved for onshore and offshore use in 2026-27 (IIAN 151-2026). The 2025-26 offshore schedule required 10°C or above, a mix of 16.7% ethyl formate and 83.3% carbon dioxide and a 4-hour base exposure. The import declaration must carry the code TREATEDEF when ethyl formate was used.
• One treatment for two purposes must meet the higher value of each parameter (dose, temperature, time, retention) of the BMSB rate and the goods' normal import conditions.

Treatment certificates, AusTreat and the 120-hour window

AusTreat is DAFF's scheme for treatment providers outside Australia, with registration renewed every 3 years; IIAN 151-2026 requires offshore providers to be registered under it. DAFF's 2025-26 pages say that for goods treated in a target risk country, certificates are accepted only from providers registered under AusTreat and listed as approved on its List of treatment providers. Elsewhere an AusTreat provider is recommended, not required, but certificates are refused if the provider is listed as suspended, withdrawn or under review. A fraudulent certificate leads to onshore treatment, where permitted, or export.

Under the in-transit policy, which continues in 2026-27, certificates from a provider placed under review or suspended become unacceptable from the date the change is published, whatever the treatment date. The certificate must show that both the goods' normal requirements and the minimum BMSB requirements were met.

The 120-hour window, as published for 2025-26: for goods treated in a target risk country before 1 December, containerised goods must be loaded and sealed within 120 hours of treatment, and break bulk shipped on board within 120 hours. The clock starts when heat treatment ends or fumigation ventilation starts. It does not apply to goods treated in a non-target country or from 1 December. With the Rolled Goods Policy gone, IIAN 130-2026 says break bulk that misses the post-treatment loading requirements must be retreated offshore before arrival.

• Sealing declaration (2025-26 pages): signed at origin by the exporter, forwarder or shipping company, not the Australian importer or broker. It covers FCL/FCX goods sealed before 1 September but shipped after it, goods sealed within 120 hours of offshore treatment before 1 December, a bill of lading with no shipped-on-board date, or goods packed in a non-target country but shipped from a target risk country. It is not valid for open-top, flat-rack or modified containers.
• Transhipment (2025-26 pages): from 1 September to 1 December, target high risk break bulk held more than 120 hours in a target risk country in transit needs treatment; unopened sealed containers are not caught.

On arrival in Australia: inspection, onshore treatment or export

Target high risk and target risk goods can be selected for random inspection. Inspections are done at container level, at an approved arrangement site in a metropolitan location. If BMSB is found, the goods are directed for treatment. Goods must still meet their normal BICON (Biosecurity Import Conditions) requirements. The outcomes below are from DAFF's arrival page last updated 7 August 2025, except where IIAN 130-2026 confirms them for 2026-27.

• Untreated break bulk identified before arrival: denied discharge or directed for export (IIAN 130-2026).
• Untreated break bulk already unloaded: contained, for example by envelope tarping, within 24 hours, held at the wharf and exported within 48 hours.
• Untreated target high risk goods in a sealed six hard-sided container: onshore treatment at container level by an approved arrangement provider, with no deconsolidation first. If it cannot be treated, or the importer chooses export, the goods must be exported within 7 days of arrival.
• A Class 4.7 secure unpack is possible only after a Class 12 treatment provider reports that in-container treatment will not work.
• Untreated break bulk is declared by answering YES to community protection question 642; surveillance and inspection before export are fee-for-service.

New Zealand (MPI): what is different

New Zealand's BMSB rules are in MPI's Import Health Standard (IHS): Vehicles, Machinery and Parts, the 2021 version linked from MPI's BMSB page. They target vehicles, machinery, parts and new tyres, plus aircraft and watercraft, not Australia's tariff chapters, and MPI also covers sea containers exported from Italy in the season. MPI aligns risk countries, treatments and providers with Australia as far as possible, but goods sent to both countries in one season must meet both sets of rules; contact Standards@mpi.govt.nz before they leave.

• Risk countries (IHS Schedule 3): the same countries as Australia's 2025-26 target risk list, except that Uzbekistan is not listed and Japan is; the United States entry excludes Alaska and Hawaii.
• Main options: an MPI-approved system, or treatment before arrival by an offshore provider approved jointly by MPI and DAFF (DAFF's list). MPI's treatment page names heat, methyl bromide and sulfuryl fluoride, not ethyl formate, so check with MPI first.
• No treatment in Australia for New Zealand: the approved list has no providers in either country, so goods for one cannot be treated in the other on the way. Treatment can be done at another transhipment port.
• 120 hours, with no 1 December cut-off: after treatment in a risk country, break bulk must be exported to New Zealand or moved to a non-risk country within 120 hours, and goods for a fully enclosed FCL or FAK container loaded and the doors closed within 120 hours. Break bulk treated away from the port must reach it within 6 hours or be protected as clause 9.1.1 sets out.
• Sealed before 1 September: goods sealed in a fully enclosed container before 1 September and exported before 1 October of the same year are excluded, if evidence of the sealing date, such as the seal number and a date-stamped photo, is provided before arrival.
• Transhipment through a risk country from 1 September: break bulk must be segregated and stay no more than 120 hours; containerised goods must stay in the unopened container.
• On arrival: MPI says untreated BMSB risk goods that needed treatment will likely not be unloaded and will be shipped out of New Zealand at the importer's expense.