EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
COMMERCE (TRADE DESCRIPTIONS) ACT 1905
COMMERCE (IMPORTS) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
STATUTORY RULES 1989 NO. 23
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR SCIENCE, CUSTOMS AND SMALL BUSINESS
These Statutory Rules exempt ski boots from the compositional marking requirements of regulation 15B of the Commerce (Imports) Regulations.
The objective of the labelling requirement of regulation 15B is to ensure that footwear made of synthetic material is not passed off as leather. For some years now the Ski Industries Association of Australia Ltd has been seeking an exemption from regulation 15B for ski boots, on the basis that the material from which ski boots are made could not be mistaken for leather.
That Association has advised that all downhill ski boots are now made from synthetic materials and in one piece, and European manufactures no longer include the composition of soles and uppers in markings on ski boots as this is not required in any other market apart from Australia.
At a Commonwealth/State Consumer Products Advisory Committee meeting in 1988 all parties agreed in principle to exempt ski boots from their respective compositional marking requirements.
These Statutory Rules give effect to the Commonwealth’s agreement at that meeting to exempt ski boots from its labelling requirements by inserting a new subregulation (5) in regulation 15B which provides that regulation 15B does not apply to ski boots which are designed to fit ski bindings where those ski boots have moulded plastic uppers, and rigid soles which are not replaceable.