EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
By-law No. 1243872
Customs Act 1901
Section 271 of the Customs Act 1901 (the Act) provides, in part, that where an item of a Customs Tariff is expressed to apply to goods, or to a class or kind of goods, as prescribed by by-law, the Chief Executive Officer of Customs may make by-laws for the purposes of that item. A Customs Tariff is defined in section 4 of the Act to mean an act imposing duties of customs. The Customs Tariff Act 1995 (the Customs Tariff Act) is a Customs Tariff for the purposes of the Act.
Background
The Customs Tariff Amendment (Schedule 4) Act 2012 will repeal the existing Schedule 4 of the Customs Tariff Act and replace it with a new Schedule 4. As part of this process, new by-laws are required for all items that provide for goods to be prescribed by by-law.
Item 13 in the new Schedule 4 replaces item 9 of the previous Schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act 1995. Item 13 provides that goods, as prescribed by by-law, covered by Article 16 of the Treaty between Australia and Papua New Guinea, completed at Sydney in 1978, (the Treaty) are dutiable at the rate of “Free”.
New By-law No. 1243872 replaces previous By-law No. 9640037.
Instrument
By-law No. 1243872 prescribes goods imported by the traditional inhabitants of the area covered by the Treaty, for the use by these inhabitants, in traditional activities within, or in the vicinity of, the Protected Zone. The Protected Zone means the zone established under Article 10 of the Treaty, being the area bounded by the line described in Annex 9 to the Treaty.
The terms “traditional inhabitants”, “traditional activities” and “in the vicinity of” are defined by the by-law, as set out in the Treaty.
Consultation
No consultation was undertaken in relation to By-law No. 1243872 as it does not 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
By-law No. 1243872 takes effect on and from the date that the Customs Tariff Amendment (Schedule 4) Act 2012 commences, that is 1 March 2013.