FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[mingem]

Advice needed: I purchased a Dyscrasite from the US, sent to me via FedEx. Both FedEx and Biosecurity have seized this specimen over soil and biological contamination concerns.
They are demanding either the Manufacturers Documents OR a Cleanliness Certificate. The Manufacturers papers are pointless for obvious reasons... but they can not grasp this simple fact that it is natural, and not man-made! The Cleanliness Certificate (for minerals) seems to be non-existent, but it still needs to come from the dealer. He is trying to "fix one up" for me, but i think it will be too late in coming. I have until tomorrow, or Customs / FedEx will either return it to sender OR destroy the specimen. They will not ever open the package to inspect the specimen failing documentation. Both the dealer and myself are astonished at this situation, and the stand taken by Customs and FedEx. I have been purchasing specimens overseas and receiving these via post for decades with no problems. The dealer has been exporting for decades as well, he has never come across this before! We can not believe what is happening. I do not know what to do.

[SteveB]

What to do? Nothing. You can't appeal and the process is as you've found provide a certificate or say goodbye to the package.

Reasoning. This is part of the BS security that came from the two towers attack. Americans just happily gave away rights without thought in the name of security and those rights will never return to the public so they are used in all sorts niche ways like this as it give politicians and public servants "security improvements" they can use when asking for a pay rise etc on their ladder climbs.

Natural? so what? I can't believe you can't grasp Natural minerals are what gives us asbestos, uranium compounds, arsenic and mercury compounds. Plus any mineral specimen can easily harbour bacteria and spores which can be used to spread diseases by accident or even deliberate. You should be celebrating the freedom you've enjoyed and think when voting time comes round.

As a buyer you should ask seller to mark packages as gift with small value instead. It wont be long before paper itself will be banned from being sent by any form of mail, under the same security concerns. Yes its stupidity but its stupidity in the public interest which can't be argued against. its how governments work. i've encountered your situation myself several years ago with other items I purchased that were sent from overseas. Its part of how customs an quaranteen departments everywhere are merging with immigration etc towards homeland security type mega oppressive departments. likewise certain electronic products manufactured in China are already being banned from being sold in some countries under cyber security concerns. There is no standard for cleaning and steralising mineral specimens so its a situation when certificates in your case do not exist.

[R Saunders]

a Web search shows that it is a form of silver crystals. a couple are on eBay.

[Peter Lemkin]

Horrible. Stupid. No reasonable explanation for what is happening. I'm trained in Environmental Science and Toxicology and can tell you that no mineral specimen presents any special danger greater than the average shipping container from any country you care to name. I agree that this kind of stupidity is wannabe neo-fascism that came with the event of 911 [and inside job - not done by foreign terrorists - done by US high-level terrrorists....but I digress and this is not a polical forum, but a mineral forum....]

I have never heard of 'biosecurity'....but I'm a US citizen who left shortly after 911, knowing what was to come...[and it came!].

I have never heard of a cleanliness certificate for a mineral specimen nor for most anything else shipped. I don't think this is a chance event....you must have progressive political or social leanings.

...the USA is leading the World down the drain, sadly......I have fought the onset of fascism and lawlessness in the USA. I suffered terribly for being a 'whistleblower' [including death threats and complete financial destruction in the USA]. I fight it still and see it now creeping into Europe and elsewhere.

Good luck. I suggest you have the dealer invent a bogus certificate for a bogus request for one. By the way...was this in the USA? You use the term 'post' which is more used in the UK; in the USA more would use the term 'in the mail'. The UK has suffered the same trend as the US however.....

[alfredo]

To clarify for everyone, the mineral was traveling from the USA to Australia, so the "Biosecurity" problem is Australia‘s issue, not America‘s.
Australia has always been very concerned about this... I remember a friend years ago had to have their shoes washed in some sterilizing solution on arrival in Australia.

[mingem]

Yes Peter, stupid indeed and a headache.
Apologies for the wording earlier, "esta" is a computer glitch, something wrong with spelling check and it is still doing it.
Here is the directive i received from FedEx:

FedEx.jpg

Dear STEPHEN EGLINTON,

The above mentioned shipment from XXXXXXX - TMG has encountered a Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR) delay.

COLLECTIONS AND COLLECTORS PIECES OF MINERALOGICAL SPECIMENS ex USA

Please present either:

A. A MANUFACTURER'S DECLARATION/CLEANLINESS CERTIFICATE confirming that the samples are clean and free of soil and biological material; OR

B. A valid IMPORT PERMIT

*Please see attached Biosecurity Direction for additional instructions or contact DAWR at (+61) 1800 900 090.

This declaration must meet the minimum document requirement policy:
- must be consignment linked. FedEx tracking number must be stated in all pages of the declaraiton
- must be on the manufacturer’s letterhead
- must be signed (with signor’s name and company position)
- must be paginated if contains multiple pages
- must be dated

Kindly send the required documents with the tracking number as the subject.

To maintain an efficient and reliable service for all of our customers, FedEx allocates five(5) business days from shipment arrival to complete clearance. If the information required for clearance is not received by 07-FEBRUARY-2020, the shipment maybe returned to sender, as per the shipping contract.

Thank you for choosing FedEx. We look forward to hearing back from you.

Yours sincerely,
Mark Andrey Dela Cruz
Customs Support Representative