Wildlife Trade Online Services

Permit Acquittal

User Guide

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Contents 1 The Portal ............................................................................................................................. 5

2 Registration and Log in......................................................................................................... 5

3 Accessing the wildlife trade permit acquittals form ............................................................ 7

4 Acquitting a shipment .......................................................................................................... 8

5 Navigating the form ........................................................................................................... 10

a Progress bar .......................................................................................................................... 10

b Action buttons ...................................................................................................................... 11

6 Section 1 - Shipment information ...................................................................................... 12

Section 2 - Import/Export details ....................................................................................... 13

a If overseas importer/exporter details are prefilled from the permit. ..................................... 13

b If overseas importer/exporter details are not prefilled from the permit. .............................. 13 1 Entering overseas importer/exporter organisation details ....................................... 14

2 Overseas importer/exporter contact details ............................................................. 15

Section 3 – Specimen/Species ........................................................................................... 17

a. Filter the Specimen/Species list ................................................................................. 17

b. Entering Quantities .................................................................................................... 18

Section 4 – Specimens or species not listed on your permit ............................................. 19

Section 5 - Declaration and submission ............................................................................. 21

a. Supporting document and declaration ....................................................................... 21 1 Upload supporting documents .................................................................................. 21

2 Original documentation sent to the Department ..................................................... 22

3 Declaration .................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

b. Submission ................................................................................................................ 24

7 Adding and removing acquitters ........................................................................................ 25

8 Acquittal Scenarios ............................................................................................................. 25

a. Your permit includes higher taxa................................................................................ 25

b. Acquitting shipment for a permit that has been revoked ........................................... 26

c. Your permit has been issued for ‘assorted leather goods’ .......................................... 27

d. Your CITES import/re-export Multiple Consignment Authority contains ‘bulked’ specimens ...................................................................................... 28

e. You used to receive Import Notification Forms (INFs) with your permit ..................... 29

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1 The Portal The Department of the Environment and Energy (the Department) has developed a public user portal for interactions with the Department, referred to as Online Services.

Online Services can be found here: https://onlineservices.environment.gov.au/

2 Registration and Log in To use Online Services you must register for an account.

1. Click the ‘Register for Online Services’ link below the Email and Password fields.

The registration screen will then be displayed.

Figure 1- Log in screen

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Figure 2 - Registration screen

2. Enter your First Name, Last Name, Email Address and create a password (all fields are mandatory).

3. Accept the terms and conditions.

4. Click Register.

An email requesting the account be activated will be sent to the email address entered during the online registration process.

5. Follow the instructions in the email.

Once registration is complete you can log into the Online Services portal and use all online services functions within the wildlife trade section.

For further assistance use the Help Centre, available here: https://onlineservices.environment.gov.au/help

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3 Accessing the wildlife trade permit acquittals form Once logged into Online Services, you will see a dashboard displaying the various options available for managing interactions directly with the Department online.

Figure 3 - Online Services Dashboard

To access the wildlife trade permit acquittals form:

1. Click the wildlife trade tile.

2. Within the wildlife trade section, click wildlife trade permit acquittals tile.

3. You will then be taken to the wildlife trade permit acquittal home page, which provides important information before you begin your acquittal.

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4 Acquitting a shipment Once you have navigated to the wildlife trade permit acquittal home page and you have read the ‘Before you begin’ information click on Acquit a permit.

Figure 4 - Wildlife trade acquittals home page

You will then be taken to the ‘My wildlife trade permits’ screen. This screen displays all of the permits you have permissions to acquit. Please see Chapter 11 - Adding and removing acquitters for more information on acquitter’s permissions.

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Figure 5 - My wildlife trade permits

If you have 20 or more permits listed on the ‘My wildlife trade permits’ screen, a search bar will appear at the top of the list of permits to assist you finding the permit you need to acquit against.

• Should the permit that your shipment was authorised under not appear on ‘My wildlife trade permits’ screen, please contact the Department via email.

To acquit a shipment against a permit, click on the permit number in the ‘Permit number’ column. This will then take you to the ‘All acquittals for <permit number>’ screen.

Figure 6 - All acquittals for <permit number>

Once on the ‘All acquittals for <permit number>’ screen, all acquittals for this permit will be listed. You can only submit acquittals with the status of ‘draft’, as you cannot re-submit an acquittal that has

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already been submitted by you or another approved acquitter. If you have 20 or more acquittals on the ‘My wildlife trade permits’ screen, a search bar will appear at the top of the list of acquittals to assist you finding the permit you need to acquit against.

• Single use permits will only have one acquittal to enter, as the permit was only valid for one shipment. If the permit was used more than once, please contact the Department.

• For CITES import multiple consignment authorities (MCA), the overseas permit number will be

listed in the overseas permit number column, as each acquittal represents each overseas permit being used to import.

Figure 7 - Acquittals for a CITES import MCA

• For multiple use (re)export permits the acquittal number is the SER number that was used to

ship/export the goods. To select an acquittal, click ‘Acquit this shipment’ in the ‘Shipment date/acquit’ column. You will then be taken to Section 1 – Shipment information, and can begin entering the acquittal information.

5 Navigating the form There are multiple ways to navigate through the online acquittal form. These are outlined below.

(a) Progress bar The application form provides a progress bar which allows you to navigate between sections by clicking on a progress bar section heading.

Figure 8 - Progress bar

You can move between sections at any stage of the application process. The application does not need to be completed in any specific order.

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The progress bar indicates the status of each section as follows:

Section status Progress bar

Incomplete Grey line and numbered circle

Complete Green line and circle with tick symbol

Current section the applicant is working on Blue line and numbered circle

(b) Action buttons At the bottom of each section, up to four action buttons may be provided to assist you to navigate the form.

Here is a description of the functions provided by each button:

1. ‘Exit’ – exit the application and return to the dashboard.

2. ‘Save draft’ – save a draft of the application which you can return to later. Saved acquittals are stored in My applications.

3. ‘Save and Go Back’ – save data in the current section and go back to the previous section.

4. ‘Save and Continue’ – save data in the current section and go to the next section.

Figure 9 - Action buttons

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6 Section 1 - Shipment information The first section of the acquittal is Shipment information.

Figure 10 - Shipment Information screen

To start an acquittal:

1. Check the shipment information displayed on the screen to ensure you are acquitting the correct Permit. This information has been prepopulated from the Permit.

2. Under the ‘Has the shipment been sent for this acquittal?’ answer by clicking in the appropriate check boxes.

3. If the shipment will not be sent, when you click Save and Continue you will be taken straight to Section 6 - Declaration and submission, where you click the Declaration box and then the submit button and the process is complete.

4. If the shipment has been sent you will be asked to enter the Shipment date and declaration number.

Figure 11 - Shipment date and Declaration number screen

Shipment date: this is the date the goods were shipped. It cannot be a future date

Declaration number: this is the number obtained from the Australian Border Force prior to

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shipment. If you have a customs broker or freight forwarder, they may have obtained this number on your behalf. You should request this number from customs broker/freight forwarder before submitting the acquittal.

6 Section 2 - Import/Export details Section 2 of the acquittal requires information about the importer/exporter. The permit holder name and address will be displayed, however the overseas importer/exporter may need to be entered.

(a) If overseas importer/exporter details are prefilled from the permit.

If your permit lists an overseas importer/exporter details, these will be displayed and you will be asked if the details have changed.

Figure 12 - Acquittal with overseas importer/exporter details

To complete this section: 1. Answer Have the overseas importer/exporter details changed?

a. If Yes, you will then be prompted to enter the correct details, go on to Entering overseas importer/exporter organisation details

b. If no, click Save and Continue, and onto Section 3 – Specimen/Species

(b) If overseas importer/exporter details are not prefilled from the permit.

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If your permit does not list an overseas importer/exporter because it is a multiple consignment authority and you import/export with multiple organisations or people, you will be prompted to enter their details.

Figure 13 - Acquittal without overseas importer/exporter details

To complete this section: Is the overseas importer/exporter an organisation? a. If yes go to Entering overseas importer/exporter organisation details and then

Overseas importer/exporter contact details b. If no go straight to Overseas importer/exporter contact details

1. Entering overseas importer/exporter organisation details

If your overseas importer/exporter is an organisation you are required to enter their details.

To use an organisation already saved to your account:

1. Answer Yes to Would you like to use a saved organisation from your account?

2. Select the organisation in the Select an organisation from My Account drop down

To enter organisation details and save them to your account for future use:

1. Answer Yes to Would you like to use a saved organisation from your account?

2. Click

3. Enter new organisation details in the pop-up box

4. Click Save organisation details, and then you should be returned to the main form

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5. Select the new organisation in the Select an organisation from My Account drop down

To enter organisation details for one time use:

Note: These details will not be saved to your account, so you will need to re-enter the details again if relevant to future acquittals or applications. It is suggested you only use this if you have lots of one time overseas importer/exporters.

1. Answer No to Would you like to use a saved organisation from your account?

2. Enter the organisation details in the fields provided

Figure 14 – Overseas importer details screen

With any of the options, enter the organisation details in the fields provided. The fields with red asterisks are mandatory.

2. Overseas importer/exporter contact details

You are required to enter the contact details for the overseas importer/exporter. To do this enter the details in the fields provided. The fields with red asterisks are mandatory.

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Figure 15 – Overseas importer contact

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6 Section 3 – Specimen/Species The details displayed have been populated from the permit. You are required to enter/amend the quantity for each specimen for this shipment. If any of the details (except for quantity) have changed you are able to add a new specimen/species.

Figure 16 - Specimen and Species quantities screen

(a) Filter the Specimen/Species list If your permit contains a lot of specimens and species the Filter field can be used to search on Product description, Species name or common name. This is a “contains in” search which means that any line item that contains the characters entered in the filter field will be returned as a match.

Figure 17 - Filter search field

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(b) Entering Quantities 1. Enter the quantity of the specimen that was actually included in this shipment

2. Click the green plus button. once you click the green plus button the specimen will be moved to the top of the screen allowing you to easily see what is being included in the acquittal

3. Repeat actions 1 & 2 until all specimens pre populated from the permit that were in the shipment have been added to the acquittal

4. Once all quantities of the required specimens have been entered scroll to the bottom of the list and click the appropriate action button to continue.

Note: the View more details button will display the species details of the specimen

If your permit includes specimens listed at a higher taxonomic reference than species, refer to Acquittal scenario - Your permit includes higher taxa for further instructions.

Figure 18 - Enter quantities screen

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6 Section 4 – Specimens or species not listed on your permit

There are some cases where your shipment includes specimens that were not listed on your permit, for example if the permit was granted at a higher taxonomic level or were bulked. In these cases, you are able to add these species manually to your acquittal in this section.

Figure 19 - Have you shipped items not on your permit

1. If No – I only shipped quantities of specimens from the approved specimens on my permit as listed then check No and click appropriate action button to continue.

2. If Yes – I have shipped quantities of new specimens and species not listed on my permit then click Yes and complete the Add Specimen/Species process.

Note: This process is the same as when adding Specimen/Species during the Permit applications process.

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Figure 20 - Add Specimen/Species not on permit screen

1. Select Product Type

2. Enter Product Description

3. Enter Quantity

4. Enter Unit of Measure

5. Click button to add species to this specimen. Repeat this step until all species for this specimen have been added.

6. Repeat these steps to add more Specimen/species for this acquittal

Please note: Do not include specimens not regulated by the Department or specimens included on a separate acquittal.

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6 Section 5 - Declaration and submission (a) Supporting document and declaration

This section is the final step to submit your acquittal. Once you click the submit button your acquittal will be submitted with the information entered in the previous sections.

There are three pieces of information to be entered on this screen:

Upload supporting documents

Original documentation sent to the department

Declaration

Figure 21 - Supporting documentation and declaration screen

1. Upload supporting documents

The upload supporting documents field will only be displayed for some multiple use permit holders. It is recommended that you upload a copy of your Specimen Export Record or Import Notification Form. Although not mandatory, the Department can request a copy of your Specimen Export Record or Import Notification Form at any time.

a. Click the ‘Browse’ button (or equivalent, depending on internet browser software) for the document to be uploaded.

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A directory browser will be displayed.

Figure 22 - Directory browser

1. Locate and select the document to be uploaded.

2. Click ‘Open’

3. The document name will be displayed next to the Choose File button

4. Click ‘Upload’. The document will be displayed on the screen. More than one document can be uploaded.

2. Original documentation sent to the Department (This is only applicable for CITES import permits)

. When posting your overseas CITES (re-)export document(s) please ensure you clearly write the associated import permit and, where relevant, acquittal number on the top of the document.

a. Under the ‘Original documentation sent or to be sent?’ answer by clicking wither Yes or No

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3. Declararion

After reading the declaration text, confirm you acceptance by clicking the check box.

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(b) Submission If you are happy with the information entered into the acquittal form you are ready to submit the acquittal.

1. Click the Submit button

2. Click the Confirm button

Figure 23 –Submit screen

You acquittal has been successfully submitted and you will see the following screen and also an email for your records.

All acquittals submitted by you or draft acquittals you have started can also be viewed from My applications screen within Online Services

Figure 24 - Acquittal submitted confirmation screen

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7 Adding and removing acquitters A permit can have more than one person approved as an acquitter. The person who submitted the application is automatically able to acquit the permit, however you can have more people added to complete the acquittals process. For a person to be able to acquit a permit online their email address must be linked to the permit. If you submitted the application, your email address (that is used for your online services account) will already be linked. For permits issued after 10 December 2018 you will need to contact the Department via email to have additional people’s email addresses added as an acquitter to a permit. That person will then need to register with online services with the same email. For future permits applications you will be able to add multiple acquitters during the online application process, in section six of the form.

Figure 25 - Add Approved acquitters during an application

Please note: It is important to also contact the Department if you wish to remove people from a permit’s approved acquitters list. Should a person cease working for a company they would still have access to online services as it is an online web based application.

8 Acquittal Scenarios

a. Your permit includes higher taxa If you have been issued a permit with specimens at a higher taxonomic level than species i.e. Orchidaceae (a taxonomic family), which allows you to ship all species that belong to that higher taxa within the other conditions of your permit, you must acquit each shipment with details at the species level. (Note: If you prefer, you can avoid doing this in future acquittals by applying for your next permit at the species level instead of at the high taxonomic level).

To do this you will need to:

1. Enter any of the specimens listed on your permit at species level during Section 3.

2. Scroll to the bottom of the list and click the appropriate action button to continue to Section 4

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3. Click Yes to the “Have you shipped any quantities for new specimens and species not listed on my permit” question

4. Add each specimen and their species in the screens provided. This process follows the same logic as adding species in the Permit application form within online services.

Figure 26 - Add Species screen

b. Acquitting shipment for a permit that has been revoked If a permit is revoked after a period of trading the shipments must be acquitted, both for shipments that have occurred, as well as shipments that were not sent. Please see details in Chapter 7 of this document on how to indicate if a shipment has been sent or will not be sent.

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c. Your permit has been issued for ‘assorted leather goods’ As the online acquittal portal automatically generates a list of specimens for your acquittals using the data that you entered when applying for your permit, it is strongly recommended that, for all future applications, you avoid using ‘assorted leather goods’ and replace this with the actual name of your commonly traded leather goods, for example belt(s), wallet(s), bag(s), and watch strap(s). Each type of leather good should instead be listed as a separate specimen on your application. Whilst this process will take slightly more time at the application stage, this will save you considerable time when submitting online acquittals - you will not need to manually add these for every shipment, you will just be able to click on the appropriate one and add the quantity. You can still use ‘assorted leather goods’ for items not regularly traded – you will just need to manually add the type of good during your acquittal. In cases where your permit lists ‘assorted leather goods’ you MUST provide an accurate description of the item(s) on the SER and in the online acquittal. To do so, you will need to add a new specimen:

1. Complete Section 1 and 2, as per the instructions earlier in this document

2. Enter the details of the items individually listed on the permit on Section 3 of the acquittal, as per the instructions earlier in this document, and click Save and Continue

3. On Section 4, click Yes to the “Have you shipped any quantities for new specimens and species not listed on my permit” question

4. Add specimen and species details in the screens provided. This process follows the same logic as adding species in the Permit application form within online services.

5. Continue onto Section 5, as per the instructions earlier in this document.

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Figure 27 - Add Species screen

d. Your CITES import/re-export Multiple Consignment Authority contains ‘bulked’ specimens

If you have been issued a CITES import or re-export multiple consignment authority and your specimens have been ‘bulked’ together i.e. not all of the country of last re-export and/or country of origin details are listed out, you MUST include these details in your acquittal.

Figure 28- 'Bulked' specimen on a CITES import Muliple consignment authority

To do this you will need to:

1. Enter any of the specimens that have all of their details listed on your permit during Section 3.

2. Scroll to the bottom of the list and click the appropriate action button to continue to Section 4

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3. Click Yes to the “Have you shipped any quantities for new specimens and species not listed on my permit” question and then add each specimen and their species in the screens provided. This process follows the same logic as adding species in the permit application form within online services.

Figure 29 - Add Species screen

6. Add as many specimens as required for the leather goods not specified in Section 3, and click Save and Continue

7. Enter details in Section 5, as per the instructions earlier in this document.

e. You used to receive Import Notification Forms (INFs) with your permit

If you were previously issued with import notification forms (INFs) accompanying your multiple use import permits, you will no longer receive INFs under the new system. Instead, the information that you would normally include in your INF will be completed in the online acquittal portal. Instead of receiving INFs, you will be allocated a number of shipment acquittals in the online

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acquittal portal. Please advise us either by email or as part of your supporting documentation in your application how many shipments you intend to make. If you complete fewer shipments than were requested, you will still need to acquit unused shipment records. Click on the relevant record and select “The shipment will not be sent for this acquittal”.

When you click Save and Continue you will be taken straight to Section 6 - Declaration and submission, where you click the Declaration box and then the submit button and the process is complete.

If you need to complete more shipments than were requested, you will need to request the Department to add more shipment acquittals to your permits. This will add additional acquittals in the online acquittal portal for you to introduce.

It is a condition of your permit that you acquit within two weeks of a shipment occurring. Acquitting on time will help you identify whether you will need to add additional shipments to your permit acquittal.

End of Document