EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1986 No 58
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 conditions requiring an exporter to be a holder of an export licence. Current regulations in this respect provide for exporters to hold an export licence issued by the Minister for Primary Industry, on the recommendation of the Australian Apple and Pear Corporation, and subject to certain eligibility criteria being satisfied. A licence may be revoked by the Minister, on the recommendation of the Corporation, if a material change has occurred in relation to any of the matters covered by the eligibility criteria that are applicable to the licensee.
The proposed regulations provide for the Minister, on the recommendation of the Corporation, to revoke the licence of an exporter during 1936 under certain circumstances relating to the export performance of the licensee in the years 1984 and 1985, although only after the licencee has been asked to show cause why the licence should not be revoked. The Minister’s decision to revoke a licence would be subject to review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).
The new regulations relate to a recently introduced export policy of the Corporation 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. The current licensing period terminates in January 1987 and the Corporation’s new export policy would be applied in full in regard to considering licence applications for the subsequent three year period. However, in the interim, the Corporation intends that some reduction in
the number of licensees occurs in 1986 by revoking licences of those deemed not to have exported specified quantities of fruit in the last two years. This is intended to demonstrate to industry that the new policy is in place and that the Corporation is looking to the intended benefits arising from its application being transmitted back to the industry as soon as possible.
The new regulations in their present form, with the Minister being the decision maker, are intended to apply only in respect: of the 1986 export season in view of proposed amendments to the principal Act which are currently before the Parliament. These amendments will provide for the Corporation itself to be solely responsible in the future, effective for practical purposes from the next licensing period, for issuing and revoking licences subject to the AAT review process.