Asbestos Restrictions on Importing Vessels
Australia has a zero tolerance of Asbestos and Asbestos containing materials, Regulation 4C of the Customs Act (Prohibited Import) Regulations 1956 applies to the importation into Australia of asbestos or goods containing asbestos. The objective of Regulation 4C is to address the Australian Government’s concerns about the risks posed by asbestos.
Regulation 4C has recently been amended to allow the importation of ships and resources installations where they:
- Are of at least 150 gross tonnage; and
- The asbestos was fixed or installed before 1 January 2005; and
- The asbestos will not be a risk to any person unless it is disturbed.
For any vessel constructed on or after 1 January 2005 to be compliant, it must contain no asbestos at all.
Under new processing arrangements, the importer is now required to declare, at the time of lodging the import declaration, that the ship or resources installation is in fact compliant with Regulation 4C. The importer bears the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the vessel meets the requirements of Australia’s import control and would be best advised to take whatever steps they consider necessary to ensure that this is the case.
As compliance with Regulation 4C is now determined at the time the import declaration is lodged, to prevent any delays in obtaining import clearance from Customs and Border Protection, it would be advisable to lodge the import declaration in advance of the ship’s arrival.
Where, at the time of importation, a ship can not be declared as being compliant with Australia’s import requirements, Customs and Border Protection will not be able to allow the ship’s importation.
In summary, if the importer is confident that they could, if required, satisfy Customs and Border Protection that any asbestos aboard was compliant i.e. affixed or installed before 1 January 2005, the importer would be able to answer ‘Yes’ to the lodgement question and the vessel’s importation could be processed. If the importer was not able to answer ‘Yes’ to the lodgement question, Customs and Border Protection would have to treat the vessel as a prohibited import.