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 instrument deletes specimens from the list of exempt native specimens that are taken in the South Australian Sardine Fishery. The instrument also includes specimens from the same fishery in the list of exempt native specimens, with notations that inclusion of the specimens in the list are subject to restrictions or conditions that the specimen, or the fish or invertebrate from which it is derived, was taken lawfully, and that the specimens are included in the list until 20 August 2021.

The effect of this instrument is to simplify the description of the specimens in the list of exempt native specimens, and to extend the export approval for the specimens until
20 August 2021. This fishery has been identified by the Department of the Environment and Energy as suitable for extension of export approval for five years.

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 Primary Industries and Regions South Australia as Primary Industries and Regions South Australia 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 22 business days. All comments received were taken into account in the decision to include specimens derived from the fishery in the list of exempt native specimens.

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