The Export Declaration
From the moment goods are brought to a place for export, they are under customs control. The ABF says goods, mail items included, must be reported on an Export Declaration if they:
- have a value of more than AUD2,000;
- need an export permit, whatever their value;
- are goods for which duty drawback is being claimed; or
- are dutiable or excisable goods on which the duty or excise duty is unpaid.
Among the goods the ABF lists as exempt from an Export Declaration are personal effects, goods (including mail items) with a value of less than AUD2,000, and Australian domestic cargo. These figures are as the ABF’s page read on 9 October 2026. There are no customs duties on export, and exported services are not subject to customs control. Goods going to Australia’s external territories, among them Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Norfolk Island, meet the normal export requirements. For the goods the Australian Government controls, the ABF points exporters to its list of prohibited goods to search.
The Defence and Strategic Goods List
The Defence and Strategic Goods List (DSGL) is a legislative instrument naming the goods, technology and software that Australian export control laws regulate. Defence divides it in two: Part 1, the Munitions List, for items specially designed or modified for military use; and Part 2, the Dual-use List, for items generally used for commercial purposes that could also have military or weapons of mass destruction uses. It also carries controls specific to Australia, for items such as firearms and explosives. The list changes as the international export control regimes Australia belongs to change; its 2024 updates took effect on 16 August 2024.
The prohibition is in regulation 13E of the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations 1958:
“(1) The exportation from Australia of the following goods is prohibited, subject to this Division: (a) goods specified in the defence and strategic goods list; (b) goods containing DSGL technology.”
Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations 1958, reg 13E(1), compilation of 26 March 2026
The prohibition lifts when the Defence Minister has granted permission (for goods containing DSGL technology, permission expressed to cover it), the export follows its terms, and, in the regulation’s words, “the permission is produced to a Collector”. Regulation 13EA sets out exceptions that need no permission. Permission is granted only if the Minister is satisfied the export “would not prejudice the security, defence or international relations of Australia”, weighing listed criteria. The first is “The risk that the goods or the DSGL technology may go to, or become available to, a country upon which the Security Council of the United Nations or Australia has imposed a sanction”, which is where this check meets sanctions before you trade. A permission can carry conditions.
Points Defence makes about the list
- Anyone wanting to export, supply, publish or broker controlled DSGL items has to apply to Defence for a permit unless an exemption applies, and meet reporting and compliance obligations.
- Goods that are not on the list can still be caught by export control catch-all laws where there is a suspicion of a military end use or a weapons of mass destruction program; Defence says exporters in that position should ask it for advice.
- Technology that is already available to the public, for example in publications or on public websites, is not controlled.
- Firearms, their parts, accessories and ammunition are controlled in every case, whatever their condition or age, and need a valid permit before export.
Defence assesses an application in stages: first which category of the list the goods or technology fall into, then whether the end users and destinations would prejudice Australia’s security, defence or international relations. It may ask for more information at any stage, and may refer the application to another agency. Technology carries its own offence. Section 10 of the Defence Trade Controls Act 2012 makes it an offence to supply DSGL technology from a place in Australia to a place outside Australia in the circumstances it sets out, among them that the supplier holds no permit under section 11 authorising the supply; the penalty is “Imprisonment for 10 years or 2,500 penalty units, or both” (compilation of 14 October 2024).
Agricultural export commodities
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry controls the export commodities listed, or prescribed, in the Export Control Act 2020 and related legislation. Its list of prescribed products includes dairy, eggs, fish, meat, organic and biodynamic produce, and plants and plant products such as cut flowers, fresh fruit and vegetables, grains and seeds, and timber. That is a selection; the department’s page has the full list.
Some goods sit outside the controls. Certain animal or plant by-products may be exempt unless an importing country asks for government certification, and the department’s examples include fish oil for manufacturing or pharmaceutical purposes, tallow, gelatine, and meat products containing less than 5% mass of meat. Highly processed products, like wines, can usually be exported without government controls, though in rare cases an importing country may require certification.
The Act itself works through rules. Section 28 lets the rules prescribe kinds of goods, including by where they are going or what they will be used for, and section 29 lets the rules prohibit the export of prescribed goods unless prescribed conditions are complied with. Section 30(1) is contravened where a person exports goods and any of three things applies: the goods are permanently prohibited goods; the export is a permanently prohibited export; or “the export of the goods is prohibited absolutely by a temporary prohibition determination”. As an offence it carries imprisonment for 8 years or 480 penalty units, or both, and as a civil penalty, 960 penalty units (compilation of 21 May 2026).
If a trade agreement could lower the tariff at the other end, see free trade agreements and rules of origin. For goods coming the other way, start with import declarations.