Customs Amendment Regulations 2002 (No. 4) 2002 No. 195
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 2002 No. 195
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Justice and Customs
Customs Act 1901
Customs Amendment Regulations 2002 (No. 4)
Section 270 of the Customs Act 1901 (the Act) provides in part that the Governor-General may make regulations not inconsistent with the Act prescribing all matters which by the Act are required or permitted to be prescribed or as may be necessary or convenient to be prescribed for giving effect to this Act or for the conduct of any business relating to Customs.
The purpose of the Regulations is to amend the Customs Regulations 1926 to ensure that a person intending to depart from Australia with a pet does not have to formally notify Customs of his or her intention to export the animal.
Subsection 113(1) of the Act provides that, subject to the Act, the owner of goods intended for export must enter the goods for export. An entry for export is a formal notification to Customs of the intention of the owner of goods to export those goods from Australia. Subsection 113(2) sets out classes of goods to which the requirement to enter does not apply. These exemptions include an exemption for goods that are accompanied or unaccompanied personal or household effects of a passenger in a ship or aircraft.
Subsection 113(2A) which commenced on 1 July 2002, provides that the exemptions in subsection 113 (2) do not apply where a permission to export those goods is required by an Act or by an instrument made under an Act (other than goods or classes of goods prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of the subsection). This provision was included to ensure that Customs received information about the exportation of such goods and was therefore better able to monitor controlled exports.
Subsection 113(2A) has had an unintended effect in that the exportation of any live animal (including domestic pets) from Australia requires a permission under the Export Control (Animal) Orders made under the Export Control Act 1982.
Prior to 1 July 2002, a person intending to depart from Australia with his or her pet was not required to notify Customs of his or her intention to export the animal because the animal was 'accompanied or unaccompanied personal effects of a passenger'. Since 1 July 2002, because the export of a pet requires an export permit under the Export Control (Animal) Orders, the pet must also be entered for export under the Act.
This non-commercial exportation of animals was not intended to be covered by the requirement to enter the goods for export and the export of such animals does not present a high risk to Customs or other government agencies. The information that would be available from an export entry is not required for data reconciliation purposes by those agencies. The Regulations therefore exclude the export of these animals from the entry requirement of the Act.
Details of the amending Regulations are set out in the Attachment.
The amending Regulations commenced on gazettal.
0206428A
ATTACHMENT
CUSTOMS AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2002 (No. 4)
Regulation 1 - Name of regulations
Regulation 1 provides that the amending Regulations are named the "Customs Amendment Regulations 2002 (No. 4)".
Regulation 2 - Commencement
Regulation 2 provides that the amending Regulations commence on gazettal.
Regulation 3 - Amendment of Customs Regulations 1926
Regulation 3 provides that Schedule 1 amends the Customs Regulations 1926 (the principal Regulations).
SCHEDULE 1 - AMENDMENTS
Item 1 - After subregulation 97(4)
Item 1 would include new subregulation 97(4A) in the principal Regulations which would provide that goods that are live animals are prescribed for the purposes of subsection 113 (2A) of the Customs Act 1901. However, live animals will only be exempted from the requirement to be entered for export if four conditions are satisfied.
First, those live animals will only be exempt from the requirement to be entered for exportation if the animal is being exported for a reason other than for a commercial reason. Commercial reasons include professional racing, breeding and showing animals for commercial purposes. This will ensure that, for example, race horses that are exported from Australia will have to be entered for export.
Further, the animal must be exported as part of the accompanied or unaccompanied personal effects of the owner of the animal and the owner must either be a passenger in the same ship or aircraft in which the animal is travelling or be travelling to the same final destination as the animal within a reasonable time before or after the export of the animal. This will ensure that only those animals that are owned by the person travelling are exempted from the entry requirements. This also recognises that often the animal and their owner cannot travel on the same ship or aircraft as the animal may have to undergo lengthy quarantine procedures prior to or after exportation.
Finally, the animal must not require permission to be exported under an Act other than the Export Control Act 1982. Hence, if any legislation (other than the Export Control Act 1982) requires a permission to export an animal, the animal must be entered for export. For example, a person may wish to export a pet which is a native Australian animal. In those circumstances, the owner must also obtain a permission to export the animal from Environment Australia and the animal will have to be entered for exportation.