EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Customs By-law Amendment Notice (No. 1) 2010
Amendment of Customs By-law No. 9640001
Item 7 of Schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act 1995
Section 271 of the Customs Act 1901 (the Act) provides that the Chief Executive Officer of Customs may make by-laws for the purposes of an item of a Customs Tariff that is expressed to apply to goods, or to a class or kind of goods, as prescribed by
by-law. A Customs Tariff is defined in section 4 of the Act to mean an Act imposing duties of Customs, that is the Customs Tariff Act 1995 (the Customs Tariff Act). Section 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 further provides that the CEO may revoke or amend by-laws.
Background
Item 7 in Schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act provides for the duty free entry of goods, as prescribed by by-law, that are for the official use of an international organisation established by agreement between the Government of Australia and the government of another country, or goods for the personal or official use of such an organisation.
Customs By-law No. 9640001 is made for the purposes of item 7 of Schedule 4 of the Customs Tariff Act. This by-law specifies that the Anglo-Australia Telescope Board (AATB) is an eligible organisation for the purposes of item 7. The by-law further defines goods that are eligible for duty free entry under item 7 and sets out conditions applicable to the entry of those goods.
In accordance with the Anglo-Australian Telescope Agreement Amendment
Act 2006, the AATB ceased to exist at the end of 30 June 2010. Customs By-Law Amendment Notice (No. 1) 2010 removes references to the AATB from the by-law.
Instrument
Customs By-Law Amendment Notice (No. 1) 2010 omits the references to the AATB in Customs By-law No. 9640001, in Table 1 of paragraph 3(a) and Table 2 of paragraph 3(b) of the by-law.
The Amendment Notice also replaces references to the “Customs Tariff Act 1987” with the “Customs Tariff Act 1995”, to reflect the replacement of the former Act with the latter.
These amendments to Customs By-law No. 9640001 do not affect the eligibility, for the item 7 duty concessions, of the other organisations and institutions listed in the by-law.
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Consultation
No consultation was undertaken specifically in relation to By-law No. 9640001 as the amendments to the by-law result from changes to an international agreement.
Commencement
Customs By-law Amendment Notice (No. 1) 2010 takes effect from 1 July 2010.