EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

Amendment of the List of Exempt Native Specimens in accordance with Section 303DC

Section 303DB of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) provides for the establishment of a list of exempt native specimens. Specimens included in the list are exempt from the trade control provisions that apply to regulated native specimens.

The effect of this instrument is to include the following specimens in the list of exempt native specimens:

• specimens taken by Australian Kelp Products Pty Ltd between April and July 2013 inclusive, under licences issued by the Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia for the South Australian Beach-cast Seagrass and Marine Algae Fishery as defined in the Fisheries Management (Miscellaneous Fishery) Regulations 2000 in force under the Fisheries Management Act 2007 (South Australia)

with a notation that inclusion of the specimens in the list is subject to the following restrictions or conditions:

• the specimen, or the fish or invertebrate from which it is derived, was taken lawfully, and

• the specimens are included in the list until 14 October 2013.

Listing of the specimens described above in the list of exempt native specimens will allow export of these specimens until 14 October 2013.

In determining to include the specimens in the list of exempt native specimens regard was had to the Australian Government’s Guidelines for the Ecologically Sustainable Management of Fisheries – 2nd Edition. Those Guidelines establish the criteria for assessment of the ecological sustainability of the relevant fishery’s management arrangements.

Subsection 303DC(3) of the EPBC Act provides that before amending the list, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Water must consult such other Commonwealth minister or ministers and such other minister or ministers of each state and self-governing territory, as the minister considers appropriate. The minister may also consult with such other persons and organisations as the minister considers appropriate. In this instance, the Delegate of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Water consulted with the Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia as the Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia has management responsibilities for the fishery concerned.

This instrument is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

The instrument commenced on 13 September 2013.

STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY FOR A BILL OR LEGISLATIVE INSTRUMENT THAT DOES NOT RAISE ANY HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES