EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
CEO Instrument of Approval No. 1 of 2010
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 4A(2) of the Act provides that the instrument by which a statement is approved under subsection 4A(1A) 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
Section 168 of the Act provides that the regulations may make provision for and in relation to allowing drawbacks of duty paid on goods imported into Australia.
Regulation 129 through to regulation 136B of the Customs Regulations 1926 (the Principal Regulations) set out the circumstances in which goods are eligible for drawback of import duty, the methods of calculating the amount of drawback, and the procedures that must be followed before a drawback is payable. Regulation 134 previously only allowed a claim for drawback to be made in an approved form. In the Customs context, the reference to an approved form in subregulation 134(4) meant that a claim for drawback could only be made in a documentary form.
The Integrated Cargo System (the ICS) is the computer system by which importers and customs brokers electronically provide information to the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (Customs and Border Protection). The ICS has been in operation since 2005 and initially did not contain the functionality whereby a claim for drawback could be electronically lodged with Customs and Border Protection. However, recent enhancements to the ICS now allow claims for drawback to be made electronically using the ICS. In the Customs context, electronic communications to Customs and Border Protection are made in the form of an approved statement, as opposed to an approved form.
Regulation 134 has been amended to also allow a claim for drawback of import duty to be made electronically for drawback and provides that the claim must include information as required by an approved statement (new subregulation 134(4A refers). The Chief Executive Officer of Customs has also approved an approved statement for this purpose.
CEO Instrument of Approval No. 1 of 2010 approves the “CLAIM FOR DRAWBACK OF IMPORT DUTY APPLICATION” as an approved statement for the purpose of electronically claiming a drawback of import duty.
Consultation
Customs and Border Protection has consulted extensively with people likely to use the ICS to electronically claim a drawback of import duty.
Commencement
The instrument commences on the day after it is registered.