The application of risk assessment in animal quarantine in Australia

This paper describes the ways in which the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) uses risk assessment and risk management. Taking into account the need to meet both national and international obligations, AQIS has adopted a more systematic and transparent approach to import risk assessment by employing a procedure designed to examine each point along the importation chain at which an animal or animal product might become infected. The authors discuss the four principal factors influencing the risk involved and the three phases used by AQIS in assessing risk. Objective data are rarely available in the animal health field and most analyses rely, at least in part, on subjective estimates. The authors outline a way of overcoming this through the use of simulation, whereby probability distributions are used for many steps.