COLS API – Problem and Troubleshooting

The Department of Agriculture has identified the following issues on COLS API at their end and they are working on fixes to resolve the problems. Below are the problems and workaround provided by the department.

1. If the entry is subject to AEP/NCCC, the document submitted via COLS API will only be stored in the system for reference and will not be processed by the officer.
   1. In Expedient, you will see the lodgment is submitted OK, but LRN status is “Failed” stating “Invalid LRN number” and you can’t find the LRN number in COLS online portal.
      1. If it happens, you can raise an Expedient Support ticket and we will inform the quarantine to assess the document manually.
   2. Alternatively, you can submit the AEP/NCCC documents via COLS online directly.
2. If users submit a COLS lodgement with BICON URL, the lodgment may fail with HTTP status 403 error.
   1. The problem will be resolved when you remove BICON URL.
   2. You can attach BICON as an attachment.
3. If the comment is too long with lots of special characters, the lodgement may fail with HTTP status 403 error.
   1. The department currently only allows 12 special characters in the messages. Otherwise, the message may be rejected by their server.
   2. You can shorter your comment and avoid special characters as much as you can.
4. Some attachments may fail to be submitted with HTTP status 403 error.
   1. If it happens, please submit these documents via COLS online portal.

We will keep you updated as long as the above issues are resolved by the department.