EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1986 NO. 219
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Primary Industry
AUSTRALIAN APPLE AND PEAR CORPORATION ACT 1973
APPLE AND PEAR (CONDITIONS OF EXPORT) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
The Australian Apple and Pear Corporation Act 1973 provides for the Governor-General to make regulations relating to the conditions associated with requiring an apple and pear exporter to be a holder of an export licence. Recent changes to the Act enable the Corporation, rather than the Minister for Primary Industry, to grant and revoke export licences as well as charge a licence administration fee.
These changes relate, in the main, to the Corporation’s new export policy which provides for a restricted number of licensed exporters of apples and pears as a means of improving the Corporation’s export co-ordination activities and limiting unnecessary competition between Australian exporters in overseas markets. While the policy will be implemented in full from the next licensing period beginning on 20 January 1987, sections of the new policy relating to the
restriction on the issue of new licences and licence revocation on the basis of non-performance have already been applied to some extent during the current period. In this respect the Minister was given the power to revoke the licences of exporters in 1986 in certain circumstances relating to specified levels of export performance.
The proposed regulations specify the conditions on which the Corporation will issue licences, including a set of eligibility criteria against which applicants will be assessed. These include certain applicant specific criteria such as an applicant’s financial standing/integrity as well as an assessment by the Corporation of the appropriate number of licensees required to allow exporting to be undertaken on an effective co-ordinated basis from each State.
Provision is also made in the regulations for the Corporation to revoke licences either in respect of a material change occurring in relation to the licensee’s ability to meet the eligibility criteria on which the licence was granted or on the basis of the licensee’s export performance over a specified period. In both instances however, a decision would only be taken after the licensee has been asked to show cause why the licence should not be revoked. In circumstances involving a change in the applicant’s financial standing and/or integrity the Corporation may also stop the licensee exporting, by withholding the issue of export permits to the licensee, pending revocation action being finalised.
Decisions by the Corporation relating to the issue and revocation of licences as well as the withholding of export permits will be subject to review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
The regulations also provide for the Corporation to impose an annual licence administration fee on each licensee of $500. This fee, payable at the end of each year, is to help defray not only the costs to the Corporation of the granting and renewal of licences, but also the ongoing activities associated with monitoring and reviewing the performance of each licensee during the licensing period. Other changes are of a minor nature and include provision for the Corporation to determine export quality standards to supplement existing provisions relating to labelling and packaging.
The regulations provide for licence applicants for the next licensing period and succeeding years to be lodged before 1 September in the preceding year. The Act provides for the Corporation to determine the period for which export licences will be granted. To enable potential exporters to be aware of the provisions relating to the issue of 1987 licences under these regulations, the terms of the Corporation’s new export policy, as well as a guidelines document on the procedures to be followed by the Corporation on issuing new licences, have already been widely advised throughout the industry. The new licensing policy was developed in consultation with, and has the general support of, the apple and pear industry.