EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
CUSTOMS (PROHIBITED EXPORTS) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
STATUTORY RULES 1988 NO. 178
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR SCIENCE, CUSTOMS AND SMALL BUSINESS
The regulations acquit two undertakings to the Senate Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances to (a) repeal and remake regulation 13F so as to ensure that the Minister of State for Defence may control the duration of permissions granted under regulation 13E by himself or by authorised persons; and (b) to re-arrange Part I of the Eighth Schedule so that the two items inserted by Statutory Rules 1987 No. 317 appear in alphabetical order.
Further, the regulations remove an unnecessary export control on inferior wine.
Details of the regulations are as follows:
Regulation 1: is a machinery provision which defines the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations as the “Principal Regulations” for the purposes of these Statutory Rules.
Regulation 2: repeals the current Regulation 13F and substitutes a redrafted Regulation 13F. The amendment is required to put beyond doubt that the Minister has the power to control the duration of a permission granted under Regulation 13E either by himself or an authorised person. The Senate Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances pointed out in its letter dated 22 February 1988 that the effect of the omission of the words “or an authorised person” as provided for in paragraph 4(a) of Statutory Rules 1987 No. 319 may have had the unforeseen consequence of making the duration of a permission granted by an authorised person incapable of control by the Minister. This result was not intended.
Regulation 3: removes item 9 from the First Schedule to the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations ie. wines (fortified or unfortified) declared in writing by the Minister for Industry, Technology and Commerce to be of such a quality that their exportation would be harmful to the reputation of Australian wine in a country to which they were to be exported.
This item is being removed as part of the Government’s policy to eliminate unnecessary business regulation. It is considered the control of these goods under the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations is unnecessary because of the existence of the controls laid down by the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Act 1980 and the associated Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation (Exports) Regulations. That legislation prohibits the exportation of wine in consignments exceeding 200 litres unless prescribed conditions, including soundness and merchantability, have been complied with. It also establishes a control regime which
involves such things as the licensing of exporters, quality checks by the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation (AWBC), and certification of compliance with the prescribed conditions.
The Australian Customs Service (ACS) will continue to be involved in the control of exported wine insofar as it is responsible for ensuring that all consignments of wine exceeding 200 litres have AWBC approval. The ACS will achieve this by means of outward manifest checks conducted prior to granting a Certificate of Clearance for any vessel carrying the wine.
If a consignment of wine exceeding 200 litres is found not to have AWBC approval for exportation, the ACS will withhold a Certificate of Clearance relying on the AWBC legislation.
Regulation 4: effects a rearrangement of the Eighth Schedule to the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations by renumbering items 70 and 71 so that they appear at items 37A and 49A, ie. in their correct alphabetical position within Part I of the Eighth Schedule.
This rearrangement acquits an undertaking given to the Senate Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances.