Carga Aérea Equipajes - Particulares Australia

Unaccompanied Personal Effects (UPEs) are your household and personal items that you import into Australia but that arrive separately to you.

UPEs may arrive in Australia by air, sea cargo or by international mail (post).

UPEs include:

• clothing and footwear
• personal hygiene and grooming items
• furniture
• appliances
• sporting equipment, and
• books.

They may also include, subject to conditions, non-motorised caravans, boats and aircraft.

You may be eligible for a UPE concession. If you are eligible, we will clear your UPEs from customs control without requiring you to pay:

• customs duty
• goods and services tax (GST), or
• other taxes and charges.

For more information on the UPE concession, see Concessions below.

An Unaccompanied Personal Effects Statement (B534 Form) (290KB PDF), is generally used to clear UPEs from customs control. This form is available in other languages but you must complete it in English.

If the goods are not UPEs, your options are to:

• enter the goods (see the Import Declaration page for more information),
• export the goods, or
• store the goods (usually for a cost) at a licenced customs premises.

You may not have to pay customs duty and GST if you meet certain criteria. Customs by-law 1700581 to Item 15 of Schedule 4 of the Customs Tariff Act 1995 details the UPE concession criteria.

To be eligible for the UPE concession you must:

• be a passenger or crew member of a ship or aircraft
• have arrived from a place outside Australia, and
• depending on the nature of the goods, meet permanent residency requirements

and the goods must be:

• your personal property
• suitable and intended for use by you in Australia
• personally owned and used overseas by you for a specified length of time. Generally, this is the 12 months before your departure for Australia.

You will meet the permanent residency requirements if you:

• are an Australian citizen
• hold a permanent visa
• hold a special category visa. 

The following goods are not eligible for the UPE concession:

• motor vehicles
• motor vehicle parts
• commercial goods
• bequeathed goods
• items that you have purchased over the internet after your arrival in Australia
• items belonging to another person who is not eligible for the concession
• tobacco and tobacco products (cigarettes, cigars, or other products containing tobacco)
• alcoholic beverages.

Note: The duty free concessions that apply to alcoholic beverages and tobacco products (cigarettes, cigars or other products containing tobacco) that you carry with you when you arrive in Australia do not apply to UPEs. We will assess alcoholic beverages and tobacco products that arrive as UPEs for duty, GST and/or wine equalisation tax. We will not release the goods until you pay these duties and taxes.

The final decision on eligibility for the UPE concession rests with the ABF. You cannot use the UPE concession if you do not meet the requirements listed above. In such cases, if you still want to import the goods, you may be liable for customs duty, GST, and other charges.

Arrival time of the goods

Your personal effects may arrive in Australia before or after you. There must be a connection between your travel to Australia and the importation of the personal effects. For example, you cannot use the UPE concession if you arrange to import your personal effects months after you arrive in Australia.

Where you arrange to transport your personal effects before you arrive in Australia, you may be able to use the UPE concession. You must prove you intend to travel to Australia in a reasonable time. Evidence could be an airline ticket or evidence of a work contract in Australia. If your personal effects arrive in Australia before you, they may still be eligible for the UPE concession.

There are currently restrictions on travel to Australia because of COVID-19. You will need to show that you can travel at the time you intend. If you are unable to, you cannot use the UPE concession.

Categories of goods

To clear your UPEs, you must complete and lodge an Unaccompanied Personal Effects Statement (B534 Form) (290KB PDF). This statement is a legal declaration to both the Department of Home Affairs and Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (Agriculture).

The Unaccompanied Personal Effects statement (B534 Form) is available in other languages. You must complete the form in English.

There are two ways to lodge an Unaccompanied Personal Effects statement.

Option 1 - In person at one of our offices

To lodge the statement in person at an ABF counter you must undergo an Evidence of Identity (EOI) check.

Besides the documents required for the EOI check, you need to bring the following with you:

• a completed and signed Unaccompanied Personal Effects statement
• any permits for the goods
• a delivery order from the shipper, or other shipping document identifying the owner. This must also show the address of the owner of the UPEs
• a list of all the goods included in the UPEs such as a packing list
• any receipts or evidence of the value of goods owned for less than 12 months (if applicable).

If you cannot lodge the form yourself, you can ask a representative such as a friend or relative to do it for you. Your representative must give us a copy of their passport photo page showing their signature.

The ABF may ask for more information to help with the clearance process.

Option 2 - Electronic lodgement through the Integrated Cargo System (ICS)

If you are using a customs broker or other service provider, they can lodge the Unaccompanied Personal Effects statement for you. They can do this through the Department’s Integrated Cargo System. We still need all the documents listed above, but you won’t need to attend a departmental counter. We may still ask for more information from them.

Your customs broker or other service provider can tell you of any fees that may be applicable.

All consignments of UPEs will be subject to some form of biosecurity inspection. Agriculture will conduct this inspection.

Agriculture has information on their website about importing personal effects and household goods. This includes tips for cleaning your goods before you pack them. There is also details on Agriculture’s fees and charges.

The ABF cannot release the UPEs until Agriculture clears the goods.

The UPE Statement (Form B534) is available in the following languages:

• English (290KB PDF)
• Arabic (285KB PDF)
• Chinese (simplified) (327KB PDF)
• Chinese (traditional) (431KB PDF)
• Farsi (230KB PDF)
• French (228KB PDF)
• Greek (256KB PDF)
• Italian (210KB PDF)
• Japanese (revised) (363KB PDF)
• Russian (256KB PDF)
• Spanish (213KB PDF)
• Turkish (212KB PDF)