mystical oyster Posted April 20, 2015 Mine was opened by aus post at customs?? Seem to be alot more packages getting opened these days... Thankyou EG! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spooge Posted April 20, 2015 they're probably watching the forum Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zed240 Posted April 21, 2015 Hey EG. Mine arrived too. Cheers! WilL get some on real soon. Also opened by biosecurity. I think it's because there was no indication on the outside of the envelope as to what was contained within. I've had a number of seed packs come from different countries but all the others have what's inside written on some kind of form attached to the envelope, (obviously everything is always listed as approved by ICON to be imported and has the full species name), and they've never been opened. I also like how you call us "Australien" haha! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
franky Posted April 21, 2015 Got it today, and opened as well. I think zed is right, as I've had large seed orders from Koehres come un opened but they had it labelled. All good really, everything was left there for me 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Evil Genius Posted April 21, 2015 Hey Guys, will look into the thing with the declaration. Maybe it will make things easier for you in Australia. In Germany, it´s not required and that´s why I usually ship without. Had a lot of letters opened this time but all were correctly labeled and I triple-checked that all were labeled correctly and with a well written label. And all seeds were very well cleaned. I take AQUIS and their regulations very seriously and it´s in everbody´s interest to do everything they way they want it. I understand about their importance and because I only send seeds that are legal to send, there shouldnt be any problems, even if they decide to open something. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zelly Posted April 22, 2015 EG, two factors are in play when sending & receiving....(exporting & importing).... each country is different & its up to the shipper (exporter) to know what the import requirements & restrictions are for each country. I've probably shipped several hundred packets to Au & Nz over the last several years & to my knowledge all but 1 or 2 have made it, and very few were opened. Lately I've been informed its becoming necessary to label precisely to AQIS specifications, even for hybrids. This means also a customs label & description of contents on the outside of the packet. So juuls x lumberjack or whatever may be labeled echinopsis aurea and declared as E. aurea and a pm or email is sent with the cross reference. know their rules, play by their rules, and everybody is a happy camper. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Swiper Posted April 22, 2015 Thanks a lot EG ! Seeds arrived today, three lots in the envelope, opened for inspection also. From Peru to Germany to Australia, you little ripper ! Will get them growing today. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Evil Genius Posted April 22, 2015 All seeds were labeled correctly and very well cleaned, so the fact that they opened some of them is not a problem. I don´t send anything to Australia that I am not allowed to send or that is against AQUIS requirements, so I don´t worry about them opening anything up. Them opening up letters is what they do and as long as the seeds are legal to send and respect the AQUIS requirements, nobody has to be worried about that. Unfortunately there is not an easy way to send things to Australia and it´s possible that letters of senders who send stuff to Australia are more likely to be opened than the ones from people who don´t do this more oftenly. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Evil Genius Posted April 22, 2015 (edited) And this here is what they wrote about hybrids: Where the parents of a hybrid are permitted the hybrid plant may be imported without a separate ICON listing. Imported hybrids must be clearly labelled with their full parentage for identification by the Department of Agriculture. However, they don´t seem to know this passus all the time and the only time I had problems with them was because they either ignored this passus, or because they said they can´t read my writing. And since I bought me a nice label printer, that´s not an issue anymore. Hybrids require additional information about the parents, eg Echinopsis pachanoi cv. huarazensis. And even if you use that label, I am not sure if they would accept them all the time. Edited April 22, 2015 by Evil Genius Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mushfun Posted April 27, 2015 Thanks EG, got mine today, unopened. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites