EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

Amendment of the List of Exempt Native Specimens in accordance with Section 303DC(1)(a)

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 revoke the conditions to which the inclusion of the following item in the list is subject:

• specimens that are or are derived from fish or invertebrates, other than:

- specimens that belong to species listed under Part 13 of the EPBC Act, and

- specimens that belong to taxa listed under section 303CA of the EPBC Act (Australia’s CITES list)

taken in the Northern Territory Offshore Net and Line Fishery, as defined in the management regime in force under the Northern Territory Fisheries Regulations and the Northern Territory Fisheries Act 1988,

and impose the following conditions to which the inclusion of the specimens in the list is subject:

• the specimen, or the fish or invertebrate from which it is derived, was taken lawfully, and
• the specimens are covered by the declaration of an approved wildlife trade operation under section 303FN of the EPBC Act in relation to the fishery.

Listing of the specimens described above in the list of exempt native specimens will allow continued export of these specimens, without requiring export permits, while an approved wildlife trade operation declaration for the fishery is in force.

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 and Energy 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 and Energy consulted with the Northern Territory Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries as the Northern Territory Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries has management responsibilities for the fishery concerned. In addition, the proposal to amend the list of exempt native specimens was advertised on the Department of the Environment and Energy’s website and comment was invited from interested people for a period of 21 business days. One comment was received.

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

The instrument commenced on the day after it was registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.

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