Importer Registration Overseas: Documents Australian Exporters Need

When an overseas importer or regulator registers your products or your company, it asks you for evidence: your company details, a letter authorising the importer, and sometimes a government export or free sale certificate. Government certificates can often go straight to DFAT. Company letters and declarations are signed before a notary where the registering body asks for that.

Key takeaways

• There are three different registrations: of your site, of your product, and of you as a supplier. Each asks for different documents.
• For food and farm goods, some importing countries register sites through the Department of Agriculture or their own online portal, with no notary involved.
• A product registration is often held by the importer, using a letter of authorisation from you.
• Government-issued certificates are public documents; DFAT may legalise them without a notary.
• The notary attests who signed your letters and declarations, not what they say about the product.
• Think about control: whoever holds a registration may be hard to replace. Ask a lawyer in that country.

Which registration is being asked for?

"We need to register you" can mean three quite different things, and working out which one saves a lot of wasted paperwork.

Registration of your site. Some importing countries only accept certain goods, mostly food and agricultural products, from establishments that are listed with them. For some products and markets, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry lists Australian establishments with the importing country; for others, the business registers itself on the importing authority's own portal. China's system for registering overseas food establishments is a well-known example, and the department's website explains which Australian products it is involved with and which are self-registered. These registrations are usually online and rarely involve a notary.

Registration of your product. Regulated goods, such as cosmetics, therapeutic goods, medical devices, supplements, chemicals and some foods, often have to be registered with the destination's regulator before they can be sold. In many countries the registration is lodged and held by a local company, usually the importer or distributor, with your authority. This is where most notarised documents come from.

Registration of you as a supplier. Importers, retailers and government buyers keep their own supplier files, and some have to satisfy a local licensing authority that their foreign suppliers exist. They ask for company evidence, and occasionally for it to be notarised or legalised.

What documents do registering bodies usually ask for?

The lists vary by country and product, but the same documents recur. The table shows who issues each and where a notary may fit.

Document	Who issues it	Where a notary fits
Letter of authorisation to the importer	Your company	Signed before a notary if the regulator asks
Certificate of free sale or export certificate	An Australian government agency, for some goods	Usually none; ask DFAT about legalising the original
Manufacturing or quality certificate	A certification body or regulator	A notarised copy, if a copy is accepted
Company registration evidence	ASIC, as a company extract	Notarised copy, or DFAT on the original
Product declarations or specifications	Your company	Signed before a notary if asked
Supply or distribution agreement	Both parties	Sometimes, if it must be registered locally

Two points matter more than the rest. First, sort the documents by who issues them before you book anyone. A certificate issued by an Australian government agency is already a public document. DFAT's page on documents it can legalise lists government commercial documents such as those from ASIC, the ATO and the TGA, so the original may go straight to DFAT. Confirm with DFAT and the issuing agency before paying for a notarial act. Where a certified copy is acceptable instead, it should be certified by a notary: a copy certified by a Justice of the Peace cannot be apostilled. Second, company letters and declarations are private documents; if the regulator wants them formalised, they are signed before a notary first.

What goes in a letter of authorisation?

The letter of authorisation, sometimes called a letter of authority or manufacturer's authorisation, is the core document in most product registrations. It tells the regulator that you, as manufacturer or brand owner, authorise a named local company to register and hold the registration for named products. Regulators read it closely. It usually needs:

• Your company's exact legal name and address, matching your ASIC extract and every certificate in the file.
• The importer's exact legal name and registration number in its own country.
• The products, by name, and often by model, formulation or code.
• What the importer may do: register, hold, renew, amend, import and sell.
• Whether the authority is exclusive, and how long it lasts.
• A signature by an authorised officer, often with a company stamp, which some regulators expect even though Australian companies rarely use one.

Use the regulator's or importer's template where one exists. If the regulator asks for notarisation, an authorised officer signs before a notary, who checks their photo identification and authority, usually from a current ASIC extract and sometimes a board resolution. Our guide to notarising a board resolution covers that evidence.

Who controls the registration?

This is the question exporters most often ask too late. Where a product registration is held by your importer, that company may effectively control your access to the market. If you later change distributor, the new one may need a fresh registration, and the old registration may not simply transfer. In some countries, registered agency or distribution arrangements also give the local party rights on termination.

These are questions of the destination's law, and of the commercial deal. Before signing an exclusive authorisation, talk to a lawyer in that country about who should hold the registration, whether it can be held by a neutral registration holder or your own local entity, and what happens when the relationship ends. The notary's role is limited to the signing; it does not include advising on these terms. Our guide to documents for entering a new export market covers appointing a local distributor more generally.

What about the importer's own licence and customs file?

Separately from any product registration, the importer usually holds its own import licence and customs registration as the importer of record. That is the importer's business, and it rarely needs documents from you. Occasionally the licensing authority or customs asks the importer to show that its foreign supplier is a real company, or to hold a supply agreement on file. When that happens, the importer will usually say exactly what it needs: often a plain copy of your ASIC extract and the signed agreement, and less often a notarised or legalised version.

Resist the temptation to send a large bundle "just in case". Every extra document is another name, address and date that has to match the rest of the file, and another thing that can go out of date. Send what was asked for, in the form asked for, and keep a note of it for the renewal.

Apostille or embassy legalisation?

If the receiving body wants documents legalised, DFAT is the only body in Australia that does it. For a country that is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, DFAT issues an apostille, confirming the signature and seal on the document. For a country outside it, DFAT issues an authentication certificate and the country's embassy or consulate in Australia then legalises the document. Several large import markets have joined the Convention in recent years and others remain outside it, so check the HCCH status table on the day. Our guide to consulate legalisation explains the embassy step.

Some regulators also want documents translated into their language, by a translator they recognise, and some want the translation attached before legalisation. Ask the importer, who deals with the regulator every day, what order it expects.

How do you prepare, step by step?

1. Ask for the full list in writing. From the importer or regulator, including the form each document must take and any template.
2. Identify the registration type. Site, product or supplier, because each follows a different route.
3. Check names and addresses. Make sure the manufacturer, brand owner and exporter are named consistently everywhere.
4. Order government certificates. From the issuing agency, as late as the regulator's recency rules allow.
5. Prepare company letters. On the regulator's template, reviewed by a lawyer where exclusivity or control is involved.
6. Sign before a notary where asked. With a current ASIC extract and evidence of the signatory's authority.
7. Legalise through DFAT. Then the embassy, where the destination is outside the Hague Convention.
8. Keep a register. What was sent, in what form, and when each registration must be renewed.

Common mistakes to avoid

The most common mistake is inconsistency: the letter of authorisation names the brand-owning company while the certificates name the manufacturing company, or the address differs between documents. Regulators notice. The second is asking a notary to certify a copy of a government certificate when DFAT could have legalised the original directly. The third is signing an open-ended exclusive authorisation for a distributor without advice on how to end it. The fourth is ordering certificates too early, so they are too old by the time the regulator reviews the file. Our guide to company records for a foreign registry covers the company evidence side in more detail.

Here is an illustration, not a real case.

A Melbourne cosmetics company agrees to supply a distributor in the Gulf. The distributor sends the regulator's list: a letter of authorisation on its template, a free sale certificate, a manufacturing certificate and company evidence. The company's lawyer in that country advises on the authorisation's term. A director signs the letter before a notary with a current ASIC extract, and the manufacturing certificate is copied and notarised from the original. The company checks the HCCH status table, finds the country is not a party, and sends the documents to DFAT for authentication and then to the embassy for legalisation.

In short

Registration overseas may mean your site, your product or your company as a supplier, and each needs different evidence. Site listings for food and farm goods often run through the Department of Agriculture or an online portal. Product registrations usually rely on your letter of authorisation, signed before a notary if the regulator asks. Government certificates may go straight to DFAT. Keep names consistent, watch who holds the registration, and check the Hague status on the day. Our apostille and authentication page explains the DFAT step.

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Preparing documents for an overseas importer or regulator? Send us their document list, and we will explain each step before you book.