General enquiries can be made through Pax. On the Pax landing page, click on the Contact Us tab on the navigation bar to submit your query. We will endeavour to respond as soon as possible, noting that more complex queries may require more time.

Please note that the ASO is unable to provide legal advice. The ASO is also unable to provide specific advice regarding proposed or hypothetical activities. You are responsible for understanding your obligations and taking steps to work out whether your proposed activity is compliant with Australian sanctions laws or requires a permit. You should consider seeking independent legal advice to determine whether you require a sanctions permit.

If you believe your proposed activity is affected by sanctions and that you meet the criteria for a permit, you can apply for a sanctions permit through Pax. You will need to provide all relevant information. The ASO cannot progress your application without information indicating why the proposed activity is prohibited and details of the relevant authorisation(s) you are seeking. The ASO cannot progress applications which provide insufficient information.

Before making an application, you should read all the information on this website, follow the What You Need To Do Checklist and get your own legal advice as appropriate.

While we will work as quickly as possible to process applications, if possible you should allow 3 months for ASO to process your application, especially for complex activities and activities in high-risk countries or regions. Generally we expect, although cannot always guarantee, that it will take us 6-8 weeks to process your application. Go to Sanctions Permits for information on the time it will take and how to avoid delays.

You can subscribe to our email list to receive email updates on Australian sanctions law.

You can also view all updates on our website on the ASO landing page on the DFAT website.

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You are responsible for undertaking the due diligence checks necessary to ensure the persons or entities connected with your proposed activity are not subject to targeted financial sanctions.

We maintain a Consolidated List of all persons and entities subject to targeted financial sanctions, which is designed as one tool to assist you in undertaking your due diligence checks. Information on how to search the list is provided under Consolidated List.