Customs Administration Amendment Regulations 2008 (No. 1)

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Select Legislative Instrument 2008 No. 63

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Home Affairs

Customs Administration Act 1985

Customs Administration Amendment Regulations 2008 (No. 1)

Section 18 of the Customs Administration Act 1985 (the Act) provides that the Governor‑General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing matters required or permitted to be prescribed by the Act, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

Section 16 of the Act relates to the prohibition on the disclosure of protected information by the Australian Customs Service (Customs).  Subsection 16(2) of the Act prohibits the disclosure of protected information except in specified circumstances, including where the disclosure is authorised under section 16.

The purpose of the amending Regulations is to update the list of permitted entities to which disclosures of classes of protected information containing personal information may be authorised under section 16 of the Act by Customs.

Subsections 16(3A), (3B), (3C) and (3D) of the Act allow the Chief Executive Officer of Customs (the CEO) to authorise the disclosure of protected information to certain Commonwealth and State government agencies and international entities under specified circumstances. 

To authorise the disclosure of a class of information containing personal information  under subsections 16(3A), (3B), (3C) or (3D) of the Act, subsection 16(10) requires that:

•         the entity to which the disclosure is to be made must be specified in the regulations; and

•         the class of information to be disclosed must be specified in the regulations as a class of information that may be disclosed to the relevant entity.

For the purposes of subsection 16(10) of the Act, Schedule 2 to the Customs Administration Regulations 2000 (the Principal Regulations) specifies the entities to which disclosure of a class of information containing personal information may be made, and the class or classes of information, as described and identified in Schedule 3, that may be disclosed to each specified entity.  Schedule 3 sets out the descriptions of seven classes of information that may be disclosed.  Schedule 3 is included in Attachment A.

An overview of the amending Regulations is at Attachment B.

No consultation was undertaken specifically in relation to the amending Regulations as they are of a minor or machinery nature and do not substantially alter existing arrangements.

The amending Regulations commence on the day after they are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.

0806603A

           ATTACHMENT A

CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATION REGULATIONS 2000

Schedule 3 Permitted classes of information

A Documents and information about surveillance activity or analysis

 1. This class includes, for a person, information such as identification details, travel documents and details of suspected offending conduct.

 2. It also includes documents and information derived from human and electronic surveillance methods, such as reports of observations, perceptions or detections, photographs, videotape recordings, radar, satellite or closed circuit television images or stills and sound recordings.

B Documents and information about intelligence activity or analysis

 1. This class includes, for a person, details of convictions, identification details of known associates, past travel details, and details of agencies to whom the person is of interest.

 2. It also includes reports, assessments, briefings and other intelligence publications.

C Documents and information about commercial transactions, including the importation or exportation of goods to and from Australia

D Documents and information about the movement of vessels and aircraft

E Documents and information about passenger and crew detentions and examinations

F Documents and information about the arrival and departure of persons to and from Australia

G Documents and information about detection, examination and seizure of goods including postal articles

           ATTACHMENT B

DETAILS OF THE CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATION AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2008 (No. 1)

Regulation 1 - Name of Regulations

This regulation provides that the title of the Regulations is the Customs Administration Amendment Regulations 2008 (No. 1).

Regulation 2 - Commencement

This regulation provides that the Regulations commence on the day after they are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments. 

Regulation 3 - Amendment of Customs Administration Regulations 2000

This regulation provides that the Customs Administration Regulations 2000 (the Principal Regulations) are amended as set out in Schedule 1 to the Regulations.

SCHEDULE 1 - AMENDMENTS

  Items [1] to [4]

Items [1] to [4] of Schedule 1 amend Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the Principal Regulations to reflect the name change of a number of Commonwealth Departments.  The amendments:

•         substitute the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts with the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy;

•         substitute the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources with the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism;

•         substitute the Department of Environment and Water Resources with the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts; and

•         substitute the Department of Transport and Regional Services with the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. 

Item [5]

Item [5] of Schedule 1 amends Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the Principal Regulations to:

•         insert the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission as an entity to which disclosures of the class of information C containing personal information may be made;

•         insert the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency as an entity to which disclosures of the classes of information C and G containing personal information may be made; and

•         insert the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research as an entity to which disclosures of the classes of information A, B, C, D and G containing personal information may be made. 

Items [6] to [13]

Items [6] to [13] of Schedule 1 amend Part 2 of Schedule 2 to the Principal Regulations to insert a) WorkCover NSW, b) WorkSafe Victoria, c) Queensland Department of Mines and Energy, d) Western Australian Department of Consumer and Employment Protection, e) SafeWork SA, f) Tasmanian Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources, g) Office of the Occupation Health and Safety Commissioner ACT and h) NT WorkSafe, as entities to which disclosure of the classes of information C and G containing personal information may be made.

Item [14]  

Item [14] of Schedule 1 amends Part 3 of Schedule 2 to the Principal Regulations to correct the name of two foreign/international entities.  The amendments:

•         substitute the Customs and Quarantine, Government of Guam with the Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency; and

•         substitute the Customs Department (Thailand) with the Customs Department of the Kingdom of Thailand.