EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry
(Sheepmeat and Goatmeat Quota Export to the European Union)
Order 2014
Statutory Basis
Under the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry Act 1997 and the Australian Meat and Live-stock (Quotas) Act 1990 the Secretary of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture (the department) may make certain orders in relation to meat or live-stock exports from Australia for the purpose of ensuring a fair return and in the best commercial interests of the industry.
This order is made under section 17 of the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry Act 1997.
Background to Order
At the industry’s request the department administers quota arrangements to provide a fair and orderly operating environment for Australian exporters of sheepmeat and goatmeat to the European Union (EU).
The order outlines the quota administrative processes that operate on an annual basis. For the purpose of this order, a quota year runs from 1 January to 31 December.
Consultation
The current quota administrative arrangements were developed in consultation with industry. Each year the order is updated to re-align the administrative and operating dates for the next quota year. These amendments are mechanical in nature and do not require additional consultation with industry.
The regulatory impact analysis conducted in line with Office of Best Practice Regulation guidelines indicates the changes would have low or no impact on businesses (OBPR ID 17430).
Summary of Order
Australia is designated a country-specific EU sheepmeat and goatmeat under EU law.
The order explains the method used to calculate the yearly allocation of the quotas among eligible exporters, how to get approvals to ship in-quota and obtain quota certificates, how calculations are allocated and individual exporters’ quota accounts and a number of administratively significant dates. The main characteristics of the quota arrangements that are promulgated in the order are:
- To be eligible for quota, licensed exporters must either be an EU-accredited meat processing plant or must source their product from those plants.
- Eighty per cent of the quota is allocated on the basis of recorded shipments of quota meat to the EU sheepmeat and goatmeat market during the previous year.
- Twenty per cent of the quota is allocated on the basis of exporters’ performance credits for exports to all destinations from EU-accredited meat processing establishments.
- Exporters may trade quota entitlement but transfers of quota are absolute, a feature designed to ensure that quota is available only to active exporters to the EU sheepmeat and goatmeat market. Exporters may also trade export records but transfers of export records may be made only within the constraints set out in section 22 of the order.
Explanation of Amendments
The amendments are primarily to the dates to reflect the timelines applying to future quota years.
Some additional minor amendments to improve the readability of the legislation have also been made. This includes improving clarity around the process of calculating EU quota entitlements, who can apply for unallocated quota, and removing references to the recalculation amount, which were intended to only operate as a one-off in 2005, but remained in subsequent orders.
Human Rights Compatibility Statement
The amendments to the Order are compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
The amendments to the order do not raise any human rights issues as their focus is on continuing existing administrative arrangements into future quota years. The compatibility statement is attached.