EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Justice and Customs
Customs Legislation Amendment and Repeal (International Trade Modernisation) Act 2001
Proclamation
Subsections 2(2), (3) and (4) and paragraphs 2(5)(a), (b) and (c) of the Customs Legislation Amendment and Repeal (International Trade Modernisation) Act 2001 (the Act) relevantly provide that, subject to subsection 2(7) of the Act:
a) Part 4 of Schedule 1 to the Act commences on a day to be fixed by Proclamation (subsection 2(2) refers);
b) Part 2 of Schedule 3 to the Act (other than item 43) and item 119 in Part 6 of Schedule 3 to the Act commence on a day to be fixed by Proclamation (subsection 2(3) refers);
c) Part 4 of Schedule 3 to the Act (other than items 82 and 84) commences on a day or days to be fixed by Proclamation (subsection 2(4) refers);
d) the items in Schedule 1 to the Act other than the items in Part 4 of that Schedule commence on a day or days to be fixed by Proclamation (paragraph 2(5)(a) refers);
e) the items in Schedule 2 to the Act commence on a day or days to be fixed by Proclamation (paragraph 2(5)(b) refers); and
f) the items (other than items 109, 119, 123 and 152 to 171) in Parts 1, 3, 5 and 6 of Schedule 3 to the Act commence on a day or days to be fixed by Proclamation (paragraph 2(5)(c) refers).
Subsection 2(7) of the Act provides, in part, that if an item in a Schedule (other than Schedule 4) does not commence under subsection 2(2), (3), (4) or (5) within the period of 4 years beginning on the day on which the Act receives the Royal Assent, it commences on the first day after the end of that period. The Act received the Royal Assent on 20 July 2001.
The purpose of the Proclamation is to fix 19 July 2005 as the day on which the following provisions of the Act commence:
• Part 4 of Schedule 1;
• item 15 in Schedule 1;
• item 3 in Schedule 2;
• Part 2 of Schedule 3 (other than item 43);
• items 67, 69, 70, 71, 75, 76, 78, 79, 80, 81, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89 and 90 of Part 4 of Schedule 3;
• items 98 and 99 in Part 5 of Schedule 3;
• item 119 in Part 6 of Schedule 3;
• items 103, 104, 105, 106, 108, 110, 111, 112, 115, 116, 116A, 116B, 116C, 117, 118, 120, 121, 122, 122A, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 145 and 150 in Part 6 of Schedule 3.
The Act amends the Customs Act 1901 (the Customs Act) to, amongst other things, create the legal foundations for communicating electronically with the Australian Customs Service (Customs) using a new computer system known as the Integrated Cargo System (the ICS). In order to allow people who want to communicate with Customs electronically time to prepare the relevant systems, the amendments in the Act have been proclaimed to commence progressively.
The remaining amendments in the Act were proclaimed to commence on 19 July 2005. These amendments:
a) extend the time in which Customs can recover short levied or erroneously refunded duty;
b) require people communicating electronically with Customs in relation to the importation of goods and the arrival of ships and aircraft in Australia to use the ICS;
c) remove the references to the existing computer systems;
d) allow an importer who has entered into a contract with the Chief Executive Officer of Customs to provide limited information to Customs at the time he or she imports goods, with a reconciliation required in the month following the importation; and
e) introduce new obligations in relation to cargo imported into Australia, for example, section 64ABAA of the Customs Act will, in part, require stevedores to provide an electronic outturn report to Customs which identifies the cargo that has been unloaded from a ship at a port.
The commencement of the remaining amendments in the Act is linked to the commencement of the Import Processing Charges Act 2001 (the IPC Act) which imposes new charges for import processing. A Proclamation under subsection 2(3) of the Act is needed to trigger the commencement of the IPC Act. Thus, in order to ensure that the new charges in the IPC Act commence, it is necessary to make such a Proclamation, rather than wait for the default commencement date of 20 July 2005. The remaining amendments in the Act have also been proclaimed to commence on 19 July 2005.
No consultation was undertaken in relation to the Proclamation as it is of a minor or machinery nature and does not substantially alter existing arrangements.
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