Fees and charges

​​​​The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment is responsible for applying fees and charges to industry and the public.

Fees and charges are applied for services provided by the department, including:

• regulatory services, including biosecurity and export certification
• requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).

Charges are also administered by the department, for distribution to agencies with responsibilities across agricultural sectors, including:

• managing research
• market and industry development
• plant and animal health programs across agricultural sectors.

Import and export services

Cost recovery fees and charges are applied to the department’s import and export services, including inspection and certification of goods and premises.

You can find full details of these charges and how they are applied in the department’s charging guidelines.

How we set our cost recovery fees and levies

Cost recovery fees and charges applied by the department are periodically reviewed.

A key part of this process is the development of a Cost Recovery Implementation Statement (CRIS).​

Each CRIS document provides information on:

• the legislative basis for cost recovery
• the design of fees and charges
• how fees and charges are applied
• ongoing reporting on the fees and charges.

The current agriculture export CRIS documents are now available.

Read the current Biosecurity CRIS.

Agriculture industry levies

The department administers primary industry levies that are applied across a range of agricultural commodities.

These levies are designed to collectively respond to a problem or opportunity through funding and resource sharing across a particular industry.

Freedom of information

The department provides access to documents under the FOI Act.

Requests for information under the FOI Act may attract charges for the time required to process the request and provide the documents.

Guidance on the FOI process and any applicable charges is available on our website.

Other fees and charges

Other services provided by the department may also attract fees. You will be informed of any fees or charges when you make your request.

If you have any questions about the fees and levies charged by the department, you can call 1800 900 090 or email Cost Recovery.

AIMS Account Clients

The department allows clients who receive invoices for services charged in AIMS to become an AIMS Account Client if they meet the criteria outlined on the AIMS Account Client page.

Remittances

The department maintains a Cost Recovery Reserve (CRR) for each arrangement to manage unanticipated changes in activity that cannot immediately be managed through expenditure alone. Departmental policy seeks to maintain a CRR balance of between 0-5% of annual program expenditure.

Over recoveries may be managed through reduction in fees and charges known as remissions.  When a remission is agreed, the legislated fees and levies do not change, a remission is applied to reduce the amount payable.

All remissions are temporary and are closely monitored to ensure ongoing affordability. Remissions may need to be adjusted if trade volumes and/or costs change unexpectedly.

Meat Export arrangement