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 (the 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 of exempt native specimens on 18 August 2010 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, taken in the Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery, as defined in the Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery Management Plan 1995 (as amended) made under the Fisheries Management Act 1991.
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.
Revoking the conditions and imposing the above conditions to which the inclusion of the specimens in the list of exempt native specimens is subject will allow continued export of these specimens until 24 July 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. These Guidelines establish the criteria for assessment of the ecological sustainability of the relevant fisheries management arrangements.
Subsection 303DC(3) of the EPBC Act provides that before amending the list, the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities 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. The proposal to amend the list of exempt native specimens was advertised on the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities website and comment was invited from interested people for a period of 36 days. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Australian Fisheries Management Authority were also consulted. All comments received were taken into account in the decision to include the fishery in the list of exempt native specimens.
This instrument is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
The instrument commenced on the day after it was registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.
Unique Identifying Number: EPBC303DC/SFS/2010/31