Animal and Plant Quarantine B01: How to Check, What Documents You Need, What Cannot Be Shipped
B01 is a “subject to quarantine” marker, not a question of tariff rates. When B01 is listed in the “Import Regulations” column of a product’s CCC tariff code, the goods belong to the categories of animals and plants subject to quarantine, and import quarantine must be arranged with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, Ministry of Agriculture (APHIA, reorganised from the former Bureau on 1 August 2023) before importation; Customs will only accept the declaration once the electronic release notice has been issued.
⚠️ Three things most people do not know: ① as a rule, quarantine-required articles may not be imported by mail (plants have two exceptions, animals have none); ② filing online through the Quarantine Cloud waives the NT$100 declaration data-entry fee - it is not the case that “online filing is charged too”; ③ dogs and cats imported from a rabies-free area with complete documents are exempt from quarantine isolation - they are not all confined for 7 to 30 days.
What is B01? First, one thing to settle: there is only one code beginning with B
An import regulation code is a licensing requirement attached to a CCC tariff code; it determines which competent authority the shipment must clear before importation. B01 belongs to the B series (animal and plant quarantine), and the competent authority is the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, Ministry of Agriculture. ⚠️ People often ask what B02 or B03 are - the B series currently has only the single code B01; there is no B02. The table below lists the codes most frequently encountered alongside it in consolidation and importing, so you can see clearly what each one requires.
| Code | Competent authority | What it means | What it means for the shipment |
|---|---|---|---|
B01 | Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, Ministry of Agriculture | Animals and plants subject to quarantine | Import quarantine must be completed before importation; Customs will only accept the declaration once the release notice has been issued. |
F01 | Food and Drug Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare | Foods and related products subject to import inspection | Food inspection and quarantine are two independent procedures; both may be required. |
MW0 | International Trade Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs | Mainland China goods not permitted for import | A question of shippability - importation is not permitted whatever the tariff rate and however small the value. |
C01/C02 | Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection, Ministry of Economic Affairs | Commodities subject to inspection (C02 means “some commodities under this heading”) | Commodity inspection; unrelated to quarantine. |
602 | National Communications Commission | Controlled telecommunications radio-frequency devices | NCC approval; unrelated to quarantine. |
Many people check the tariff rate first, see 0% and order with confidence. The tariff rate determines how much you pay; the import regulations determine whether the item can enter at all - the two are independent. Goods flagged B01 that have not gone through quarantine cannot enter even after they arrive; Mainland China goods flagged MW0 may not be imported at all. Look at the import-regulation column before you look at the tariff rate, and before you place the order.
The “Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan” was reorganised on 1 August 2023 into the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, Ministry of Agriculture, abbreviated APHIA. Older material that refers to the former Bureau or to old web addresses should be replaced by the current authority and website.
How to check whether your goods need B01 quarantine
The order of checks is fixed: first confirm whether the tariff code carries B01, then confirm whether that particular “item + exporting country” combination appears on the approved import list, and finally confirm which documents you need. All three steps can be checked yourself in official systems; no paid agent is required.
Go to the commodity classification query system of the International Trade Administration and search by the Chinese product name or the 11-digit code. If B01 appears in the import-regulation column, move on to step two; while you are there, check whether MW0 (Mainland China goods not permitted for import) or F01 (food inspection) also appears.
⚠️ This is the step where people most often end up in the wrong system. The one that can be searched without logging in is smartpq2.aphia.gov.tw, and the search criteria are country name + plant part + plant name. Import forms are divided into: seeds, fruits, aerial parts, underground parts, whole plants, stems and leaves, tissue-cultured plantlets, and bulbils. The “country of import” is determined by the actual place of production of the consignment - where the actual country of production differs from the exporting country, you must contact the branch office with jurisdiction to confirm the requirements.
The list sets out the quarantine requirements for that combination; follow them and prepare the quarantine certificate and other documents issued by the official authority of the exporting country. Items not on the approved list may, as a rule, not be imported, and must go through risk analysis or a special-project import (see the two sections below). For animals or animal products, an import consent document must also be obtained first.
smartpq2 (with the 2) is the login-free query system for the approved import plant list; smartpq (without the 2) is the Smart Plant Quarantine Expert System, which redirects to a login page and is used to submit special-project import and mail import permit applications. A good many online guides have the two the wrong way round.
The approved import list is tied to the “exporting country”, and the authorities expressly provide that the actual place of production of the consignment governs. For goods transhipped through a third country, or bought in country A but actually produced in country B, the requirements may be entirely different; in such cases, confirm with the APHIA branch office with jurisdiction first rather than applying the requirements yourself.
Quarantine procedure for plants and plant products
The governing instrument in force is the Quarantine Requirements for the Importation of Plants or Plant Products into the Republic of China (announced 16 March 2026, effective 1 April 2026), divided into two main parts: “A. Prohibited imports” and “B. Conditional imports”. The cross-reference to CCC codes is in a separate announcement, the List of Plants Subject to Import Quarantine (effective 7 July 2026). The procedure itself has four steps, and the one that really takes time is the first.
1Confirm whether the item + exporting country combination may be imported
First check whether Part A lists that combination as prohibited, then look up the quarantine requirements in the approved import plant list. ⚠️ The “country of import” is determined by the actual place of production of the consignment, not by where you ship from.
2Have the official authority of the exporting country issue a Phytosanitary Certificate
The certificate must be issued by the national plant protection organization (NPPO) of the exporting country, not drawn up by the supplier or a third-party inspection company. Certain categories are announced as exempt from submitting one (see the next section), but “exempt from submitting a certificate” does not mean “exempt from quarantine”.
3Apply for quarantine with the branch office with jurisdiction before or after arrival
File online through the Quarantine Cloud Single Window Service Platform, or in person at the counter. Filing online through the Quarantine Cloud, or typing up the application form yourself at the counter, waives the NT$100 declaration data-entry fee.
4Undergo inspection, obtain the electronic release notice, then declare to Customs
Once quarantine officers have found the consignment compliant, an electronic release notice is issued, and only then will Customs accept the declaration for that consignment. Where the consignment fails, disinfection, fumigation, return or destruction is arranged as appropriate, and the related costs are borne by the applicant.
This is the rule consolidated shipping trips over most often, and the one fewest people know. Point 4 of Part A of the Quarantine Requirements for the Importation of Plants or Plant Products into the Republic of China expressly provides that Hong Kong, Singapore and Macau, being free ports, are treated as countries or areas from which importation is prohibited. Point 2 further provides that goods produced outside a prohibited area which are unloaded and transhipped in a prohibited area while in transit are treated as having been produced in a prohibited area. In other words, the same consignment of plants can enter on a direct sailing but cannot enter if transhipped through Hong Kong - the transhipment route itself changes whether the goods may be imported, so confirm it before booking the voyage.
The official position is to route such cases, not to say “it cannot come in”: ① vegetables without underground parts or fruits, and fruiting bodies of edible fungi → enquire with the branch office with jurisdiction; ② other propagative quarantine-required articles → complete the “Application for Quarantine Requirements for the Import of Plants or Plant Products” and, where necessary, apply for a first-time import risk analysis under Article 14, Paragraph 4 of the Plant Protection and Quarantine Act. So if the list turns up nothing, the next step is to ask the branch office, not to give up.
Whatever the item, anything with soil attached may not be imported. Items such as dried rice straw and plaited bamboo material, which are “exempt from quarantine when dried”, are subject to the same restriction - exemption from quarantine means you need not go through the quarantine procedure, not that you may bring soil in.
Who issues the plant quarantine certificate (Phytosanitary Certificate)
Many people confuse the “Phytosanitary Certificate” with the “import quarantine certificate issued by our authorities”. The one you must submit on importation is issued by the national plant protection organization (NPPO) of the exporting country, in the format of ISPM No. 12 under the International Plant Protection Convention (currently the revision adopted by CPM-16 in 2022; all earlier versions have been revoked). The table below sets out the documents most often confused, so you can see who issues what to whom.
| Document | Who issues it | When it is used | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plant quarantine certificate Phytosanitary Certificate | The national plant protection organization (NPPO) of the exporting country | Submitted when the import is presented for inspection | One drawn up by the supplier or issued by a third-party inspection company does not count. Certain categories are announced as exempt from submission. |
| Import plant quarantine certificate | Our own Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, Ministry of Agriculture | Issued after quarantine has been passed, for subsequent use | This runs in the opposite direction to the document above; do not mix them up. |
| Electronic release notice | Our own APHIA | Transmitted after clearance; Customs accepts the declaration on the strength of it | This, not the paper certificate, is the key to customs clearance. |
| Export plant quarantine certificate | Our own APHIA | Applied for when exporting from Taiwan to another country | This page is about importing; this document is used for exports. |
There is a separate official announcement, the List of Imported Plant Quarantine-Required Articles Exempt from Submitting a Phytosanitary Certificate Issued by the Exporting Country. Items on that list need not attach a certificate from the exporting country, but they are still quarantine-required articles and must still be declared and inspected. The two are different levels of the same matter; do not assume that “exempt from submission” means the whole procedure is waived.
The NT$120 under Article 15 of the Regulations Governing the Collection of Animal and Plant Quarantine Fees applies to the splitting, reissuance, replacement or issuance of duplicate copies of quarantine certificates - that is, it is charged when a certificate is reissued or an extra copy is issued, not NT$120 for every certificate issued in the ordinary course.
Quarantine for animals and animal products
On the animal side the operative instrument is the Regulations Governing the Quarantine of Imported Quarantine-Required Articles (last amended 8 October 2025), whose 56 annexes are the “quarantine requirements” for each class of animal and animal product. ⚠️ The old “Quarantine Requirements for the Importation of Animals and Animal Products” has been repealed; any third-party material still citing it is out of date.
Note too that the scope of quarantine-required articles is wider than people imagine - Article 5 of the Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Diseases brings in carcasses, bones, meat, viscera, fat, blood, hides, hair, feathers, horns, hooves, tendons, raw milk, eggs, semen and embryos, so unprocessed feathers and fur products may also be quarantine-required articles.
1Confirm whether the item is on the “List of Animals and Animal Products Subject to Quarantine”
Announced under Article 5, Paragraph 2 of the Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Diseases; the version in force is the amendment of 30 August 2023 (農授防字第 1121482860 號). Go to the International Trade Administration’s import and export regulations query system and enter B01 in the “regulation code” field to search - this is the method expressly stated on APHIA’s official page. ⚠️ An amendment to that list was pre-announced on 20 August 2026 (draft stage, not yet in force); check the latest version when citing it.
2Confirm whether an “import quarantine consent document” must be applied for first
⚠️ This is the point most often got wrong. The “import quarantine consent document” (Article 33, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2) and the “quarantine requirements” (Subparagraph 3 of the same paragraph) are two different things: the former is a consent document issued for an individual import case, before importation, applied for from the import and export animal quarantine authority at the port or station of arrival; the latter is a normative text of general application to a given category of item and a given exporting country. Not every category needs a consent document - only those designated by the central competent authority (dogs and cats, for example). Where the central competent authority has not yet laid down quarantine requirements, the importer must apply before importation for case-by-case quarantine requirements.
3Prepare the official animal quarantine certificate of the exporting country
In accordance with the quarantine requirements for each category, submit the animal quarantine certificate issued by the official authority of the exporting country, or such other documents as are designated. ⚠️ Certain countries and categories are announced as prohibited from importation because of their disease status, in which case no amount of documentation will get the goods in.
4Present for inspection on arrival, undergo quarantine isolation where required, obtain the certificate and declare to Customs
Present the consignment for inspection to the quarantine authority at the port or station of arrival. Where isolation is required, the animals are sent to a designated isolation facility, and the import animal quarantine certificate is issued only once the period has ended with no suspicion of infection. Customs will accept the declaration only after the electronic release notice has been obtained.
Article 34, Paragraph 3 of the Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Diseases: quarantine-required articles may not be imported by postal dispatch. Note that what it says is “quarantine-required articles” across the board - not limited to pork, not limited to affected areas, not limited by quantity, and with no exceptions (the plant side at least has two). Violations are to be returned, confiscated or destroyed; on receipt the addressee must immediately hand the article over to the quarantine authority for destruction, and failure to cooperate is punishable under Article 45, Subparagraph 13 by a fine of NT$30,000 to NT$150,000.
Get this structure straight and you will stop searching for material that does not exist. Under Article 33, Paragraph 1 of the Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Diseases, the Ministry of Agriculture issues a single announcement covering both Table 1, the disease-free areas for 10 infectious animal diseases at once (foot-and-mouth disease, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, peste des petits ruminants, African swine fever, classical swine fever, glanders, African horse sickness, highly pathogenic avian influenza, Newcastle disease and rabies), and Table 2, the risk categories for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE); it is then amended from time to time in the form of “country X added to / removed from the disease-free list”.
The text of the announcement provides expressly: “countries (areas) not listed in Table 1 are countries (areas) whose disease situation is unknown or where the disease has occurred” - in other words, the disease-free table is the positive list, and an “affected area” is simply everything not on Table 1 - not a separate list of its own. So looking for “the announcement reference number for the affected areas of disease X” will get you nowhere; instead, check the other way round, whether the country is listed in the disease-free Table 1.
The parent announcement currently in force is 農授防字第 1151868547 號 of 31 July 2026 (which removed Finland from the ASF disease-free list). The announcement further provides that consignments already loaded on board a vessel (or aircraft) for Taiwan before the effective date are not subject to it.
Under Annex 6, “Quarantine Requirements for the Importation of Dogs and Cats”, to the Regulations Governing the Quarantine of Imported Quarantine-Required Articles: animals imported from a rabies-free area with complete documents are exempt from quarantine isolation and the certificate is issued as soon as the inspection is satisfactory; animals imported from an affected area with complete documents are isolated for 7 days; where the documents are defective (no microchip, no original certificate attached, microchip number not matching, and so on) the period is, according to the circumstances, 30 days or until 97 days have elapsed since the date of blood sampling, and where the test result is unsatisfactory, 180 days, or even return or destruction by culling.
A “satisfactory test result” means a rabies neutralising antibody titre of 0.5 IU/ml or above. Whether an area is affected is determined by its announced status at the time the dog or cat left the country (area) where it was originally located and was loaded onto the means of transport. ⚠️ The “always 7 to 30 days” that circulates online (including in the earlier version of this page) is wrong at both ends.
We searched through the Regulations and the dog and cat quarantine requirements and found no official basis for any general validity period for the “import quarantine consent document”. What is regulated is the timing of the application and the fact that, once obtained, the approved import date may be changed only once. APHIA also gives a standing reminder: if the import date for dogs or cats falls on a public holiday or during the Lunar New Year period, no officers can be assigned for escort and hand-over, so avoid those dates.
According to APHIA’s statistical yearbook for 2024 (year 113 of the ROC calendar), animal and plant quarantine for imports and exports combined totalled 544,432 consignments, of which 1,790 consignments failed - a pass rate of 99.72% for animals and animal products and 99.62% for plants and plant products. Import quarantine accounted for 443,207 consignments (81.41%) and exports for 101,225 consignments. Of the 229,996 consignments of imported animals and animal products, live animals accounted for only 5,446 (2.37%), among them 2,570 cats and 2,025 dogs.
⚠️ The 544,432 figure is exports plus imports combined, not “544,432 import consignments”; do not get that wrong when citing it. The number of failures has fallen in recent years from 2,297 consignments in 2020 to 1,790 in 2024.
Common items at a glance: which need quarantine and which do not
The table below has been checked item by item against the annexed table to the List of Plants Subject to Import Quarantine (effective 7 July 2026). ⚠️ The most important idea: the unit of assessment is the 11-digit CCC code, not the product category - both are dried goods, yet dried shiitake mushrooms are exempt from quarantine while coconut fibre remains a quarantine-required article; both are mushrooms, yet fresh shiitake need quarantine and dried shiitake do not. You cannot reason from “the whole category”.
| Item | Subject to quarantine? | CCC code | Key point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood (logs, sawn timber) | ✅ Yes | 4401/4403 series | Exempt from quarantine where the thickness is less than 0.6 cm; also exempt where bonded under high temperature and pressure, painted, dyed, or treated with wood tar or preservative. Bulk logs may be imported only through Keelung, Taipei, Su-ao, Taichung, Kaohsiung and Hualien. |
| Board (plywood, particle board, oriented strand board) | ❌ No | Relevant codes in Chapter 44 | These are “bonded under high temperature and pressure” and are exempt from quarantine. |
| Wooden pallets and dunnage | ✅ Yes | 4415.20.00.00-7 | Must comply with ISPM 15; see the next section. |
| Seeds | ✅ Yes | Depends on the crop | ⚠️ “Exempt from submission when dried or milled” does not apply to seeds capable of germination. Only seeds with no germination capacity, dehulled or broken, qualify for exemption from submission. |
| Nursery stock, scions, tissue-cultured plantlets | ✅ Yes | 0602 series | 18 categories require quarantine isolation and prior written application for approval before importation: sugarcane, tea, pineapple, citrus, banana, longan, lychee, the genus Malus (apple), mango, the genus Morus (mulberry), the genus Passiflora (passion fruit), the genus Prunus (plum), guava, the genus Pyrus (pear), the genus Rosa (rose), the genus Vitis (grape), the genus Carica (papaya), and the genus Fragaria (strawberry). |
| Bulbs and planting bulbs | ✅ Yes | 0601.10 series | When searching the approved list, select underground parts as the “plant part”. Lily, gladiolus and dahlia have their own dedicated quarantine requirements. |
| Fresh fruit | ✅ Yes | 0808/0810 series | 🔴 Passengers (including checked baggage) may not carry fresh fruit at all; for freight, check item by item against the prohibition table in Part A and the requirements table in Part B. |
| Fresh vegetables | ✅ Yes | 0701/0709 series | Where there are no underground parts and no fruits, select “stems and leaves” in the approved list. Whole potatoes with skin do not qualify for the frozen-goods quarantine exemption. |
| Fresh edible mushrooms | ✅ Yes | Shiitake 0709.54.00.00-9, etc. | Both fresh and chilled require quarantine. |
| Dried shiitake mushrooms | ❌ No | Not in the annexed list of categories | An APHIA clarification statement expressly lists dried shiitake mushrooms as not requiring an application for quarantine on importation. ⚠️ If they are produced in China, however, they are separately subject to the import rules for Mainland China goods. |
| Dried flowers | ❌ No (conditional) | 0604.90.90.00-2 | The remark in the annexed table reads, word for word: “exempt from quarantine where they contain no seeds and have been dried” - those containing seeds are still quarantine-required articles. |
| Dried Chinese medicinal herbs | ❌ No (except seed types) | 1211 series | 🔴 20 seed-type Chinese medicinal herbs must still be accompanied by a certificate from the exporting country: fennel seed, hemp seed, hyacinth bean, coriander seed, ginkgo nut in shell, flaxseed, basil seed, fenugreek seed, burdock seed, Chinese chive seed, cassia seed, yellow mustard seed, cumin, dodder seed, kochia fruit, plantago seed, radish seed, white mustard seed, chia seed and wax gourd seed. |
| Bast fibre (raw) | ✅ Yes | 5301.10/5302.10/5303.10/5305.00.00.10-0 | 🔴 These codes carry no “exempt from quarantine when dried” remark. The category is limited to “raw or retted”; fibre already spun or processed is not in the annexed table. |
| Coconut fibre and coconut shell | ✅ Yes | 5305.00.00.91-2/1404.90.40.00-3 | 🔴 Likewise no drying exemption remark. Where used as a growing medium, the quarantine requirements for imported growing media apply instead. |
| Rice straw and cereal straw | ❌ No (when dried) | 1213.00/1401.90.00.10-2 | The remark reads “exempt from quarantine when dried”. But anything with soil attached may not be imported at all. |
| Bamboo packing and plaiting materials | ❌ No (when dried) | 1401.10/1401.90 series | As above. |
| Walnut shell grit (abrasive) | ⚠️ Code to be confirmed | No dedicated code found | Walnuts themselves (0802.31/0802.32) carry the remark “exempt from quarantine when dried”; the abrasive is most likely to fall under 1404.90.99.90-4 (which also carries the drying exemption remark). If, however, it is classified as a mineral abrasive (Chapter 68), it is not a plant quarantine-required article; applying for an advance tariff classification ruling first is recommended. |
| Feathers and down (for filling) | ⚠️ Depends on the state of processing | 0505.10.00.00-8/0505.90.30.00-5 | These fall under animal quarantine. The remark in the list of categories reads “except where dyed” - undyed down quilts and the filling material of down jackets are still quarantine-required articles. |
| Feather meal and feather waste | ✅ Yes (no exception) | 0505.90.20.10-5/0505.90.20.20-3 | These two codes carry no exception remark at all and are subject to quarantine in every case. |
| Pig bristle, badger hair and brush-making hair | ⚠️ Depends on the state of processing | 0502 series | The remark reads “except where dyed or made up into finished products”. Items already made up into finished products, such as feather dusters, are not quarantine-required articles. |
| Raw hides and skins (fresh / salted / dried) | ✅ Yes | 4101-4103 (19 codes) | Includes pigskin, deerskin, rhinoceros hide, elephant hide and the like. |
| Tanned leather and finished leather goods | ❌ No | 4104 and below | Not listed in the table of animal quarantine categories, and therefore not quarantine-required articles. |
An APHIA clarification statement plainly rejects any personal-use exemption: animal and plant quarantine-required articles are subject to the same quarantine rules and the same degree of rigour regardless of whether they are for personal use and regardless of value or quantity. Another clarification statement expressly lists processed and dried plant products such as dried shiitake mushrooms, dried flowers and seed-free dried Chinese medicinal herbs as “not requiring an application for quarantine on importation”. The two are not contradictory - whether something is a quarantine-required article is settled by the announced list of categories; once it is one, there is no exemption based on purpose or quantity.
You often see it put as “dyed and processed animal feathers, hair and similar products are exempt from declaration for passengers”, which makes it sound like a concession for passengers alone - it is not. That exception is written into the remarks column of the List of Animals and Animal Products Subject to Quarantine itself, meaning that those items are simply not quarantine-required articles at all, and therefore no quarantine application is needed through any of the three channels: freight, mail or passenger.
Conversely: undyed feathers and down for filling (0505.10.00.00-8) remain quarantine-required articles, which matters when buying the filling for down quilts and down jackets; while feather meal (0505.90.20.10-5) and feather waste (0505.90.20.20-3) do not even have an exception remark and are subject to quarantine in every case.
An unofficial product name such as “antler fungus” will not be found either in the annexed list of categories or in the approved list. The correct approach is to establish the scientific name and the CCC code first (applying to Customs Administration for an advance ruling on tariff classification where necessary), then use the code to check against the annexed list, rather than guessing from a common name.
Wood packaging material and ISPM 15: pallets, crates and dunnage
This section has nothing to do with the goods themselves, but you will run into it as soon as your shipment uses wooden pallets, wooden crates or dunnage. ISPM No. 15 of the International Plant Protection Convention requires wood packaging material to undergo approved phytosanitary treatment (heat treatment or fumigation) and to be marked with the IPPC mark. Taiwan’s exemption-from-submission rules expressly cite that standard.
You should be able to see the IPPC mark: the wheat-ear symbol + country code + producer code + treatment code (HT heat treatment / MB methyl bromide fumigation / DH dielectric heating). The mark must be legible, must not be altered, and should appear on at least two opposite sides of the packaging material.
Where wood packaging material fails to meet the requirements, phytosanitary treatment, return or destruction is arranged as appropriate, at the cargo owner’s expense, and the goods are held up in the port area as well. ⚠️ This is a problem for the entire shipment - the goods themselves may be fully compliant and still fail to clear because of a single pallet. Write “wood packaging material must comply with ISPM 15” into your requirements when you place the order with the supplier.
Plywood, particle board and oriented strand board bonded under high temperature and pressure, and thin wood sheets less than 0.6 cm thick, are exempt from quarantine because the manufacturing process itself achieves the phytosanitary effect. Pure paper, plastic and metal packaging are of course outside the scope as well.
How the fees are calculated
The basis is the Regulations Governing the Collection of Animal and Plant Quarantine Fees (last amended 14 November 2025), which divide the charges into three classes: quarantine fees, operating fees and handling fees. ⚠️ The one most often got wrong is the “declaration data-entry fee” - it is not charged where you file online through the Quarantine Cloud or type up the application form yourself at the counter, and is charged only where the quarantine authority enters the data on your behalf.
| Charge | Amount | Basis and explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Quarantine fee | Customs value × 1/1000 | Article 4. ⚠️ Wheat, barley, maize and soybeans are charged at customs value × 0.5/1000. |
| Declaration data-entry fee | NT$100 per case | Article 13, Paragraph 2: “except where the application form is typed up by the applicant at the counter or the declaration is filed online, NT$100 shall be charged for each application case.” → Filing online yourself means no charge. |
| Site attendance fee | NT$500 per person per visit | Article 9. One person-visit is charged per consignment; where the same applicant has several consignments attended at the same location at the same time, one person-visit is charged. No charge where the port or station has a resident office and assigns officers to carry out the work. |
| Extended quarantine operation fee | NT$200 on ordinary days / NT$1,000 on holidays / NT$2,000 for special hours (per consignment) | Article 12, Subparagraph 3. “Special hours” means 22:00 to 06:00 the following day. |
| Extended animal isolation quarantine operation fee | NT$2,000 on ordinary days / NT$2,500 on holidays / NT$3,000 for special hours (per consignment) | Article 12, Subparagraph 4. |
| Quarantine treatment fee | Fumigation and disinfection per the annexed table; dumping at sea, keeping, cultivation, transport and destruction at actual cost | Article 13, Paragraph 1. There is no cap on this item, and where the consignment fails the costs are borne by the applicant. |
| Quarantine certificate handling fee | NT$120 per copy | Article 15. ⚠️ Applies only to splitting, reissuance, replacement and the issuance of duplicate copies; it is not charged on every copy. |
| Quarantine mark handling fee | NT$1 per mark in general; NT$80 per container for container-specific marks | Article 14. For use in exports. |
| Sampling and testing fee for specified diseases on export | ELISA NT$1,000 / PCR NT$1,600 / RT-PCR NT$2,100 / real-time RT-PCR NT$3,100 / virus isolation NT$3,600 | Article 4-1, per consignment and per test. Doubled where there is an urgent need in respect of a specified animal disease. |
Article 3: aid or relief supplies (on production of certifying documents from a government agency) are exempt from quarantine fees. Article 7 exempts the quarantine fee for: military supplies (on production of certification from a military authority), imported military and public food grains (on production of certification from the food administration authority), articles carried by passengers and mailed articles within the prescribed limits, and exported fresh, chilled or frozen livestock and poultry meat for which the slaughter sanitary inspection fee has been paid.
Article 7 of the fee regulations does indeed exempt mailed articles within the limit from the quarantine fee, but that is about cost, not about whether importation is permitted. As a rule, quarantine-required articles may not be imported by mail (see the “Consequences of non-compliance” section below); do not conflate the two.
Article 8: where exports are priced in foreign currency, conversion follows the table of foreign exchange rates applicable to customs declarations published every ten days by the Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance.
The risk analysis (PRA) required for a first-time import
To import a plant variety never before approved for import into Taiwan, or to import from a new exporting country, you must first apply for a pest risk analysis under the Regulations Governing Pest Risk Analysis for the Importation of Propagative Quarantine-Required Articles (promulgated 20 April 2020). The legal basis is Article 14, Paragraph 4 of the Plant Protection and Quarantine Act. Article 5 of those Regulations expressly provides that the analysis “may refer to” the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) and other relevant international standards.
1First confirm that it really is not on the list
Search the approved import plant list for “that exporting country + that plant part + that plant”. ⚠️ Vegetables without underground parts or fruits, and fruiting bodies of edible fungi, do not go down this road; simply enquire with the branch office with jurisdiction.
2Apply on a “species” basis
The authorities expressly require applications to be made on the basis of the “species”, and where several species are applied for at once, the order of priority must be indicated. ⚠️ The official text warns that applying on the basis of a “genus”, or for hybrids or cultivars of unknown parentage, may delay the assessment timetable because invasive alien risk is difficult to assess.
3Assemble the material and apply well in advance
Submit through the Smart Plant Quarantine Expert System (an account is required). Official advice: where the goods have already arrived at the port of import, consider the condition of the goods before submitting the application - meaning that waiting until the goods arrive before applying is very likely to leave you short of time.
Online sources (including the earlier version of this page) often say “a PRA takes several months to several years”, but we searched through the regulations and the official pages and found no official basis for any published processing deadline or indicative timetable. The only statement of timing from the authorities expressly says that it varies from case to case: “the assessment timetable varies with factors such as whether the material supplied is complete and how complex the pest situation is; to avoid affecting the import schedule of the goods, please be sure to apply well in advance.” So plan your purchasing on the basis that it cannot be estimated and must be started early, and do not schedule around any of the day counts in circulation.
Prohibited imports and special-project imports
The Quarantine Requirements for the Importation of Plants or Plant Products into the Republic of China are divided into two main parts: Part A covers prohibited imports and Part B covers conditional imports. The order of assessment is to see first whether Part A lists “this item + this area” as prohibited, and then to look at the conditions in Part B.
Point 4 of Part A expressly provides that these three, being free ports, are treated as countries or areas from which importation is prohibited. Point 2 further provides that goods produced outside a prohibited area which are unloaded and transhipped in a prohibited area while in transit are treated as having been produced in a prohibited area. This bears most directly on consolidated shipping - the choice of transhipment port determines whether the consignment of plants can enter Taiwan. Before scheduling the voyage, confirm whether the route involves unloading and transhipment in any of those three places.
This is an absolute restriction, regardless of the item and regardless of quantity. Potted plants with soil, seedlings with soil on the roots, and growing media mixed with soil all fall within it.
For special needs such as scientific research or breeding trials, a special-project import permit may be applied for from APHIA, submitted through the Smart Plant Quarantine Expert System (an account is required). Once approved, importation must follow the approved conditions and is subject to subsequent supervision - this is a channel for research institutions, not a way around ordinary commercial importing.
Consequences of non-compliance: mail, freight and passengers are three entirely different routes
This is the section most often got wrong, because the same article brought in by different means has very different legal consequences. The table below sets out the plant side (Plant Protection and Quarantine Act) and the animal side (Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Diseases) separately.
| Situation | Plant side | Animal side |
|---|---|---|
| Import by mail or post | As a rule, importation is not permitted (Article 17, Paragraph 3). There are only two exceptions: ① categories announced as exempt from submitting a quarantine certificate; ② the addressee has applied in advance to the plant quarantine authority and been granted approval. Violations are to be returned or destroyed. | Quarantine-required articles may not be imported by postal dispatch (Article 34, Paragraph 3). No exceptions. They are to be returned, confiscated or destroyed. |
| Addressee fails to cooperate | Article 24, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 6: NT$30,000 to NT$150,000 | On receipt the article must immediately be handed over to the quarantine authority for destruction; violations attract NT$30,000 to NT$150,000 under Article 45, Subparagraph 13 |
| Importer fails to declare / imports in breach of the rules (freight) | Article 24, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 6: NT$30,000 to NT$150,000; importing announced prohibited items without authorisation also attracts criminal liability (imprisonment of up to 3 years, detention, or a criminal fine of up to NT$150,000, or both) | Importing prohibited quarantine-required articles without authorisation: imprisonment of up to 7 years, and a criminal fine of up to NT$3,000,000 may also be imposed (Article 41, Paragraph 1) |
| Passenger carries goods without declaring them | Article 25-1: NT$3,000 to NT$15,000 | Article 45-1: NT$10,000 to NT$1,000,000 |
| Mailing pork products from an ASF country | (Not applicable) | Prohibited by a separate dedicated announcement (issued under Article 28, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2); breach attracts NT$50,000 to NT$1,000,000 under Article 43, Subparagraph 8, with a deadline for rectification and penalties for each further instance |
Many people assume that “a small quantity, for personal use, sent by mail, is fine” - the law says exactly the opposite. As a rule, plant quarantine-required articles may not be imported by mail, and animal quarantine-required articles may not be sent by post at all. There are only two lawful routes for mailing plant quarantine-required articles: the item is within the announced categories exempt from submitting a certificate, or the addressee has applied in advance and obtained approval (a mail import permit obtained through the Smart Plant Quarantine Expert System). Send without either and the result is return or destruction, and the addressee may also be fined from NT$30,000 upwards.
The postal prohibition for quarantine-required articles generally is Article 34, Paragraph 3 of the Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Diseases, and its effect is disposal of the article (return / confiscation / destruction); a separate fine of NT$30,000 to NT$150,000 under Article 45, Subparagraph 13 arises only where the addressee fails to hand the article over for destruction.
But mailing pork products from a country (area) affected by African swine fever takes a different route: under Article 28, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2 the Ministry of Agriculture has issued a dedicated announcement suspending importation by post, and breach attracts an administrative fine of NT$50,000 to NT$1,000,000 under Article 43, Subparagraph 8, together with an order to rectify within a set period and, if that period passes without rectification, a penalty for each further instance. The two have different constituent elements and may apply together - do not assume the floor is only NT$30,000.
Note the gap between a passenger carrying goods and an importer or the addressee of a postal parcel: on the plant side it is NT$3,000-15,000 against NT$30,000-150,000, a full order of magnitude apart; on the animal side the gap is even wider, with passengers facing NT$10,000 to NT$1,000,000 (an administrative fine) while importing prohibited quarantine-required articles by freight without authorisation carries criminal liability. Most of the penalty figures in circulation come from the passenger provisions; do not use them to estimate the consequences for freight or consolidated shipments.
Goods flagged B01 (and F01) require licensing documents and do not qualify for the simplified declaration procedure for express consignments; they must go through an ordinary customs declaration instead. Build that into your timing, and do not estimate on the basis of the day counts for ordinary small parcels.
Frequently asked questions
B01 is the licensing code attached to the “Import Regulations” column of a CCC tariff code. It means the item belongs to the categories of animals and plants subject to quarantine, and import quarantine must be arranged with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, Ministry of Agriculture, before importation. The B series currently has only the single code B01; there is no B02. To check for yourself, go to the International Trade Administration’s import and export regulations query system and enter B01 in the “regulation code” field to list every applicable tariff code.B01; ② go to the Approved Import Plant List and Quarantine Requirements Query System (smartpq2.aphia.gov.tw, no login required) and search by “country + plant part + plant name”; ③ prepare the documents according to the quarantine requirements set out in the list. ⚠️ Do not confuse smartpq2 with smartpq - the latter is the Smart Plant Quarantine Expert System, which requires a login.HT/MB/DH), the mark being legible and displayed on at least two opposite sides. Non-compliant material is subject to phytosanitary treatment, return or destruction as appropriate, at the cargo owner’s expense. ⚠️ This is a risk to the entire shipment - the goods themselves may be fully compliant and still be held in the port area because of a single pallet. Write “wood packaging material must comply with ISPM 15” into your requirements to the supplier when you place the order. Plywood, particle board and oriented strand board are exempt from quarantine because they are bonded under high temperature and pressure.Sources
Every legal provision, fee rate and item-level conclusion on this page has been checked back against primary sources, verified on 2026-08-22. Legal provisions follow the current text in the Laws & Regulations Database of the Republic of China; item classifications follow APHIA’s official announcements of categories and its query systems.
- Plant Protection and Quarantine Act — Article 14, Paragraph 4 is the legal basis for first-time import risk analysis; Article 17, Paragraph 3 expressly provides that quarantine-required articles may not be imported by mail, the only exceptions being announced categories exempt from submitting a certificate and prior application and approval by the addressee; the penalties are NT$30,000 to NT$150,000 under Article 24, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 6, and NT$3,000 to NT$15,000 for passengers under Article 25-1.
- Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Diseases — Articles 4 and 5 define the scope of animals and of quarantine-required articles (including hides, hair, feathers, horns, hooves and so on); Article 33, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2 covers the import quarantine consent document and Subparagraph 3 the quarantine requirements; Article 34, Paragraph 3 expressly provides that quarantine-required articles may not be imported by postal dispatch; the penalties are, under Article 41, Paragraph 1, imprisonment of up to 7 years with a possible concurrent criminal fine of up to NT$3,000,000; under Article 45, Subparagraph 13, NT$30,000 to NT$150,000; and under Article 45-1, NT$10,000 to NT$1,000,000 for passengers.
- Quarantine Requirements for the Importation of Plants or Plant Products into the Republic of China — Announced 16 March 2026, effective 1 April 2026. Divided into Part A (prohibited imports) and Part B (conditional imports). Part A, Point 4: Hong Kong, Singapore and Macau, being free ports, are treated as countries or areas from which importation is prohibited; Point 2: goods unloaded and transhipped in a prohibited area while in transit are treated as having been produced in a prohibited area.
- List of Plants Subject to Import Quarantine — Effective 7 July 2026. The annexed table lists CCC codes item by item together with remarks such as “exempt from quarantine when dried”, and is the basis for deciding whether an item is a quarantine-required article.
- List of Animals and Animal Products Subject to Quarantine — Amended 30 August 2023 (農授防字第 1121482860 號). ⚠️ An amendment was pre-announced on 20 August 2026; it is at draft stage and not yet in force.
- Regulations Governing the Quarantine of Imported Quarantine-Required Articles — Amended 8 October 2025. Its 56 annexes are the quarantine requirements for each class of animal and animal product; Annex 6 contains the quarantine requirements for importing dogs and cats (the 0/7/30/97/180-day isolation brackets and the 0.5 IU/ml antibody standard). ⚠️ The old “Quarantine Requirements for the Importation of Animals and Animal Products” has been repealed.
- Regulations Governing Pest Risk Analysis for the Importation of Propagative Quarantine-Required Articles — Promulgated 20 April 2020; the legal basis for the PRA. Article 5 expressly provides that the analysis “may refer to” the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) and other international standards.
- Regulations Governing the Collection of Animal and Plant Quarantine Fees — Amended 14 November 2025. Article 13, Paragraph 2: “except where the application form is typed up by the applicant at the counter or the declaration is filed online”, a declaration data-entry fee of NT$100 is charged per case - online filing is free of it. Article 4 sets the quarantine fee at 1/1000 of the customs value; the NT$120 certificate handling fee under Article 15 applies only to splitting, reissuance, replacement and the issuance of duplicate copies.
- Regulations Governing Quarantine Operations for Plant Quarantine-Required Articles Imported or Exported by Mail — The basis for the exceptional procedure for importing plant quarantine-required articles by mail; the addressee must apply for approval in advance.
- Regulations Governing Quarantine Operations for Animal and Plant Quarantine-Required Articles Carried by Passengers and by Personnel Serving on Vehicles, Vessels and Aircraft — Amended 7 April 2021. Goods carried by passengers are subject to different rules and different penalty brackets from freight and mail.
- Approved Import Plant List and Quarantine Requirements Query System — No login required (there is an image CAPTCHA). The search criteria are country name + plant part + plant name; import forms are divided into seeds, fruits, aerial parts, underground parts, whole plants, stems and leaves, tissue-cultured plantlets, and bulbils.
- Smart Plant Quarantine Expert System — An account and login are required. Used for special-project import applications, applications for permits to import by mail, and accreditation of wood packaging material treatment providers. ⚠️ It differs from the previous system by a single “2” and is often confused with it.
- Quarantine Cloud Single Window Service Platform — The online filing system for animal and plant quarantine traders. Filing through it waives the declaration data-entry fee.
- Dog and Cat Import Quarantine Information Website — Electronic applications for import quarantine consent documents for dogs and cats. APHIA advises avoiding public holidays and the Lunar New Year period, when no officers can be assigned for escort and hand-over.
- Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, Ministry of Agriculture — The competent authority. Reorganised on 1 August 2023 from the “Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan”. ⚠️ Two official English names coexist (the website header uses Bureau, the annual report uses Agency, and the domain is aphia); when citing it, using the full Chinese name is recommended.
- APHIA statistical yearbook for 2024 (year 113 of the ROC calendar) — In 2024, animal and plant quarantine for imports and exports totalled 544,432 consignments (exports plus imports combined), of which 1,790 failed; the pass rate was 99.72% for animal products and 99.62% for plant products; import quarantine accounted for 443,207 consignments, or 81.41%.
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International Trade Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs - import and export regulations query
— For checking the import-regulation column of a CCC code. APHIA’s official page states expressly: enter
B01in the “regulation code” field to list the tariff codes of animals and plants subject to quarantine. - IPPC / ISPM No. 12 Phytosanitary certificates — The international standard for phytosanitary certificates. The version in force is the revision adopted by CPM-16 (2022); all earlier versions (including the 2011 version) have been revoked.
- IPPC / ISPM No. 15 wood packaging material — The international standard for the treatment of wood packaging material and the IPPC mark. It is expressly cited in Subparagraph 4 of Taiwan’s “List of Imported Plant Quarantine-Required Articles Exempt from Submitting a Phytosanitary Certificate Issued by the Exporting Country”.
This page is a general summary, verified on 2026-08-22. The actual import regulations, quarantine requirements, fees and procedures are governed by the latest announcements of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, Ministry of Agriculture, the International Trade Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs, and the Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance; for questions about a particular case, contact the APHIA branch office with jurisdiction. This page does not constitute legal advice. HowBridge provides cross-border logistics, warehousing and customs-clearance collaboration services; it does not handle animal or plant quarantine on your behalf, and does not apply for permits on your behalf.
Further reading
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