EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules 1987 No. 37
Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations (Amendment)
Issued by Authority of the Minister of State
for Industry, Technology and Commerce
The Government has undertaken the removal of the import controls on certain medical items following a review of the alternative quality and safety controls applying to such goods. The items removed from the Schedules to the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations are Item 6 of the Third Schedule (clinical thermometers), Item 8A of the Eighth. Schedule (condoms and contraceptive diaphragms) and Item 11 of the Eighth Schedule (goods that purport to produce a therapeutic effect by electric, ultrasonic or magnetic influences or by the presence of radio-active elements).
Technological advances over recent years have resulted in the availability of a wide range of thermometers and electromedical equipment, the quality and safety of which cannot effectively be monitored through Customs import controls. The Department of Health now monitors these goods, as appropriate, through the various provisions of the Government’s Medical Device Program.
In respect of condoms and contraceptive diaphragms, these goods are now subject to mandatory standards under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1966. Further, the Department of Health has implemented a random sampling program to ensure that these standards are complied with.
The Regulations provide as follows:
Regulation 1 omits item 6 (clinical thermometers) from the Third Schedule to the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations.
Regulation 2 omits item 8A (condoms and contraceptive diaphragms) and item 11 (goods that purport to produce a therapeutic effect by electric, ultrasonic or magnetic influences or by the presence of radio-active elements) from the Eighth Schedule to the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations.