EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1982 NO. 64
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE TREASURER
This regulation reduces the rate of Canning-Fruit charge from 50 cents per tonne to 0.005 cents per tonne.
The Canning-Fruit Charge Act 1959 imposes a charge at the rate of $1 per tonne, or such lower rate as may be prescribed by regulation, on apricots, peaches and pears delivered to and accepted at canneries for use in the production of canned fruit.
By Statutory Rule No. 8 of 1980, which was gazetted on 1 February 1980, and is still in force, the rate of charge was reduced to 50 cents per tonne for fruit delivered to, and accepted at, canneries on or after 1 December 1979.
The proceeds of the charge are used for the purpose of the Australian Canned Fruit Sales Promotion Committee, a statutory body established under the Canned Fruit (Sales Promotion) Act 1959 with authority to promote the sale of canned fruit in Australia and/or overseas. The charge has been imposed at the prescribed rate of 50 cents per tonne for the last two seasons.
With effect from 1 January 1982, the Australian Canned Fruits Corporation is to assume the promotional functions of the Committee in Australia and overseas. That Corporation was established under the Canned Fruits Marketing Act 1979 and is to be funded by a levy imposed under the Canned Fruits Levy Act 1979 on canned fruit produced in a factory in Australia during a season.
This nominal rate is in anticipation of the abolition of the Sales Promotion Committee and the resultant elimination for the need for funding that Committee. This nominal rate has the support of the Australian Canning Fruit-growers’ Association which represents the interests of the majority of the growers in the payment of the charge.
Deliveries for the 1981-82 canning season commenced in December 1981 and the new rate of 0.005 cents per tonne will apply to fruit delivered to and accepted at canneries on and after 1 December 1981. The imposition of the nominal rate on and after this date will mean that, effectively, the charge will be abolished in relation to the 1981-82 fruit canning season.