Customs (Places of Detention) Directions 2025
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Commonwealth Coat of Arms of Australia
LIN 25/096
Customs (Places of Detention) Directions 2025
I, Gavan Reynolds, Comptroller-General of Customs, under section 219ZJE of the Customs Act 1901, make the following directions.
Dated 25 September 2025
Gavan Reynolds AO
Comptroller-General of Customs
Contents
Part 1—Preliminary
1 Name
2 Commencement
3 Authority
4 Definitions
5 Schedules
Part 2—Detention directions
6 Places of detention
7 Personal privacy during searches
8 Transitional provisions
Schedule 1—Repeals
Part 1—Preliminary
1 Name
This instrument is the Customs (Places of Detention) Directions 2025.
2 Commencement
This instrument commences on 1 October 2025.
3 Authority
This instrument is made under section 219ZJE of the Customs Act 1901.
4 Definitions
Note: A number of expressions used in this instrument are defined in the Customs Act 1901, including the following:
(a) designated place;
(b) officer of Customs.
In this instrument:
ABF means the Australian Border Force, which has the same meaning as in the Australian Border Force Act 2015.
ABF vehicle means a vehicle:
(a) that is operated or under the control of the Australian Border Force; and
(b) that is used or capable of being used for the lawful transport or temporary detention of persons under Division 1BA of Part XII of the Act.
Act means the Customs Act 1901.
Detainee means a person detained under Division 1BA of Part XII of the Act.
5 Schedules
Each instrument that is specified in a Schedule to this instrument is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this instrument has effect according to its terms.
Part 2—Detention directions
6 Places of detention
(1) Subject to subsection (2), for the purposes of paragraph 219ZJE(a) of the Act, a person detained under Division 1BA of Part XII of the Act in a designated place must be detained in a room within that place that meets the following standards:
(a) persons inside the room are concealed from the view of persons outside the room;
(b) the room is secured against access by any person who is not an officer of Customs; and
(c) the room has reasonably comfortable ventilation and illumination.
(2) If a room meeting the standards in subsection (1) is not available in the designated place, the person must be detained in:
(a) if it is convenient and suitable to do so—a room in another place that meets the standards in subsection (1); or
(b) otherwise—an ABF vehicle.
7 Personal privacy during searches
For the purposes of paragraph 219ZJE(b) of the Act, if an officer of Customs conducts a search under section 219ZJD of the Act before taking a person to a place mentioned in section 6, the officer conducting the search must afford the detainee as much personal privacy as the circumstances of the search allow.
8 Transitional provisions
(1) This section applies if a person was detained under Division 1BA of Part XII of the Act before the commencement of this instrument, and the person remains in detention on or after commencement of this instrument.
(2) A detention described in subsection (1), any associated search, holding arrangements, or reporting obligations are to be treated as if they were governed by this instrument on and from its commencement.
(3) Anything done or omitted to be done under the Comptroller-General of Customs (Places of Detention) Directions 2015 is taken to have been done, or omitted to be done, under the corresponding provisions of this instrument.
Schedule 1—Repeals
Comptroller-General of Customs (Places of Detention) Directions 2015
1 The whole of the instrument
Repeal the instrument.