Quick summary
Australia’s penalty unit rose to A$364 on 1 July 2026, and airport biosecurity fines are written in those units, so every undeclared-item penalty moved with it. Arrivals from Mongolia must declare any goods of animal or plant origin — wool, felt, leather, fur, bone and meat souvenirs included. Declaring costs nothing; an undeclared item can draw an on-the-spot infringement notice.
No official source ties a single dollar figure to a specific souvenir, so treat any quoted fine with caution. What follows is the penalty-unit change, the declaration question, and what happens at the desk if you answer it wrongly.
Australia’s penalty unit rose to A$364 on 1 July 2026, raising the price of almost every penalty the Commonwealth writes into law. That includes notices handed out at airport biosecurity desks.
For anyone flying home to Australia from Ulaanbaatar with a felt hat, a camel-wool scarf or a vacuum-sealed bag of dried meat, the question is narrower. Australia’s Incoming Passenger Card asks whether you are bringing goods of animal or plant origin.
The answer matters more than the souvenir’s price.
What the new penalty unit changes
The Australian Government sets the penalty unit, and the Australian Financial Security Authority publishes its value for professionals. It is a multiplier. Legislation sets a breach at a number of units, and the penalty is that number times the unit. A change in the unit therefore changes every penalty at once, without a new law being passed about the offence itself.
If a breach were written as two penalty units, the penalty would be twice A$364. If it were written as twenty, it would be twenty times as much. The unit is the only fixed, public part of that arithmetic. No published table matches each souvenir type to a unit count.
The published penalty unit value is the figure to check, rather than a souvenir-by-souvenir price list.
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The declaration question on the arrival card
Australia’s arrival paperwork asks one broad question about goods of animal or plant origin. The Department of Agriculture publishes guidance for the flight into Australia covering what arriving passengers must declare and how to complete the card.
The question reaches beyond food. A felt hat is animal fibre, and a leather wallet is animal hide. A bone carving, a wool blanket, a wooden bowl, a packet of seeds and hiking boots with soil in the tread all fall within it. Food does too.
Ticking yes sends you to an officer for inspection. It does not create a penalty or mean you have done anything wrong: you have answered a question about your luggage.
What happens if you don’t declare
Australia runs an infringement notice scheme at the airport. For a biosecurity breach, an officer can issue a notice on the spot rather than refer the matter for prosecution.
If a declared item passes inspection, you keep it; if it fails, it is taken and you pay nothing. Undeclared goods found at the airport can trigger a notice.
This is where most online figures go wrong. No official source reviewed here sets out a fixed dollar penalty for, say, a felt slipper or a piece of dried meat.
Mongolia souvenirs that trigger the question
Mongolia’s craft markets and department stores sell the categories the arrival card targets: camel wool and cashmere, felt, leather, fur, bone and horn, plus cured and dried meat. None is banned outright. Each falls within the animal-origin question, regardless of whether it was expensive or cheap.
Processing does not change the obligation. An industrial felt bag and a hand-felted one are both animal fibre; a factory-stitched leather belt and a hand-tooled one are both hide. Processing can change whether the item passes inspection. That decision belongs to the officer, and it only happens if you declare.
New Zealand runs a separate biosecurity regime through its own government agencies, so Australian penalty-unit figures do not carry across the Tasman. Travelers continuing to Auckland should treat the declaration as a fresh question in New Zealand’s own arrival process.
Before you fill in the arrival card
The card, not a fine table, is the thing to prepare. Treat any specific number quoted for a specific souvenir as unverified.
- Pack check 24 hours before departure: pull every wool, felt, leather, fur, bone and meat item into one place, and check jacket pockets, camera bags and boot treads for soil and food.
- Answer the card with a yes for anything on that list, including items you have owned for years and items you intend to throw away.
- Keep the label on commercially made goods — original packaging and a country-of-origin tag give an officer something to read.
- Watch: any further change to the published penalty unit, which resets every penalty written in units without new legislation on the offence.
Inspection adds time to your arrival, not dollars to your trip. An item that fails inspection fails whether or not you declared it, so answer the card.
Reporting by
Questions? Answers.
What Mongolia souvenirs need declaration on the Incoming Passenger Card?
Anything of animal or plant origin: camel wool and cashmere, felt, leather, fur, bone, horn, meat and dairy, plus wood, seeds and dried flowers. That includes finished goods such as leather jackets, wool scarves and felt slippers, and it includes items you have owned for years. When the answer is unclear, the safe answer is yes.
What happens if I declare a low-value item like a single piece of jerky?
It goes to an officer for inspection. If it passes, you keep it; if it fails, it is taken and no penalty is issued for the declaration itself. The inspection adds a few minutes to your arrival. Undeclared, the same item is what turns a routine arrival into an infringement notice.
What counts as goods of animal or plant origin?
The card’s wording is deliberately broad. Animal origin covers wool, cashmere, felt, leather, fur, bone, horn, meat, dairy and honey; plant origin covers wood, seeds, dried flowers, fresh fruit and soil. Hiking boots with soil in the tread and a forgotten apple both fall inside it.
Is declaring an item the same as admitting a breach?
No. The card asks what you are carrying, not what you have done wrong. A yes answer sends the item to inspection, where an officer decides whether it can enter. A no answer with the same item in your bag is what can produce an infringement notice.
