EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

AMENDMENT OF approved statement INSTRUMENT NO. 2 OF 2013

Customs Act 1901

Subsection 4A(1A) of the Customs Act 1901 (the Act) defines an approved statement as a statement that is approved, by instrument in writing, by the Chief Executive Officer of Customs (the CEO). Subsection 4(2) of the Act provides that the instrument by which a statement is approved under subsection 4A(1), is a disallowable instrument for the purposes of section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.  Under paragraph 6(d) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003, approved statements are legislative instruments.

Background

Paragraphs 68(1)(d) to (i) of the Act list certain classes of goods which, if imported into Australia, are not required to be entered. Goods that are included in a consignment consigned otherwise than through the post and that are all transported to Australia in the same ship or aircraft and that have a value not exceeding $250 or such other amount as is prescribed are such a class of goods(paragraph 68(1)(f) refers).  For the purposes of paragraph 68(1)(f), $1,000 has been prescribed.  This means that all such goods whose value does not exceed $1,000 are not required to be entered.

Section 71AAAD of the Act provides that goods of a kind referred to in paragraph 68(1)(f) are defined as “specified low value goods”.  Section 71AAAF of the Act provides that the owner of specified low value goods, or a person acting on behalf of the owner, must give Customs a declaration (self-assessed clearance declaration) under section 71 containing the information that is set out in an approved statement.  The self-assessed clearance declaration must also be communicated electronically and may communicated together with a cargo report.

CEO Instrument of Approval No. 5 of 2006 approved the “SELF-ASSESSED CLEARANCE DECLARATION (AIR) (TO BE COMMUNICATED WITH A CARGO REPORT)” as an approved statement for the purposes of making electronically a self-assessed clearance declaration where it is communicated together with a cargo report in relation to goods imported into Australia by air.

Recently, the Conference of Asia Pacific Air Couriers (CAPEC) requested the addition of a new field to the cargo report for goods imported into Australia by air, and other Customs and Border Protection instruments.  This new field will be added to this cargo report and the import declaration, the warehouse declaration and self-assessed clearance documents (SACs).

This new field number 29 in the “SELF-ASSESSED CLEARANCE DECLARATION (AIR) (TO BE COMMUNICATED WITH A CARGO REPORT)”, entitled Consignment Reference, contains a reference assigned by a cargo reporter that, in combination with a House Air Waybill number, will identify cargo of a particular consignment.  This will assist with the reporting and clearance of part shipments that occur when a single air cargo consignment unintentionally arrives over two or more flights.  This reference will enable the Integrated Cargo System (the ICS) to link an import declaration to cargo reports that use the same House Air Waybill number but different Master Air Waybill  numbers.

The previous version of the “SELF-ASSESSED CLEARANCE DECLARATION (AIR) (TO BE COMMUNICATED WITH A CARGO REPORT)” referred to AQIS and these references have been updated to instead refer to DAFF Biosecurity.  The previous SAC also referred to the previous threshold amount of $250 and this has been omitted and replaced with $1,000.

Amendment of Approved Statement Instrument No. 2 of 2013 makes the above amendments to the “SELF-ASSESSED CLEARANCE DECLARATION (AIR) (TO BE COMMUNICATED WITH A CARGO REPORT)”. 

Consultation

The Conference of Asia Pacific Air Couriers was consulted in the preparation of this instrument.  No additional consultation was undertaken under section 17 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 before this instrument was made as it is of a minor or machinery nature and does not substantially alter existing arrangements.

Human Rights Implications

This by-law does not engage, impact on, or limit in any way, the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in the definition of human rights at section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

Commencement

The instrument commences on 3 February 2013.

Michael Pezzullo, Acting Chief Executive Officer,

Australian Customs and Border Protection Service