EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Customs By-law No. 1300557
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 3 in the new Schedule 4 combines items 1A and 1C of the previous Schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act. Item 3 paragraphs (a) and (b) provides that goods, as prescribed by by-law, that are visual or auditory materials to which Annex C to the Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials Agreement applies or Annex C.2 to the Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials Protocol applies, are dutiable at the rate of “Free”.
New By-law No. 1300557 replaces previous By-laws Nos. 9140012 and 9140014.
Instrument
By-law No. 1300557 prescribes:
a) microforms;
b) patterns, models and wall charts that are for demonstration purposes; and
c) film.
For the purposes of this by-law, “microforms” is taken to mean an arrangement of images that are substantially reduced in size from the original form, such as microfilm, microfiche, microcards, or any other form of image reduction.
Consultation
No consultation was undertaken in relation to By-law No. 1300557 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. 1300557 takes effect on and from the date that the Customs Tariff Amendment (Schedule 4) Act 2012 commences, that is 1 March 2013.