Customs Regulations (Amendment) 1991 No. 290
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1991 No. 290
CUSTOMS ACT 1901
CUSTOMS REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR SMALL BUSINESS AND CUSTOMS
Section 270 of the Customs Act 1901 ("the Act") provides in part that (1) "The Governor-General may make regulations not inconsistent with this Act prescribing all matters which by this Act are required or permitted to be prescribed for giving effect to this Act or for the conduct of any business relating to the Customs, ..."
The proposed Statutory Rules amend the Customs Regulations ("the Regulations") to:
i) enable the rounding down of customs duty as a consequence of the Government's decision to phase out one and two cent coins;
ii) amend Schedule 2 to enable Formula Ford racing cars to be eligible for duty free importation via tariff concession orders; and
iii) include an additional circumstance for refund of customs duty where there has been a retrospective decrease in that duty.
Background
i) Rounding down of customs duty
The Government decided as part of the 1990 Budget to phase out one and two cent coins. To give effect to the Government's decision the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury requested amendments to the Customs Regulations to enable the rounding down of duty in certain circumstances. That request is implemented in proposed new regulation 127AA.
ii) Enabling duty free importation for Formula Ford racing cars via eligibility for Tariff Concession Orders
Schedule 2 to the Regulations lists goods in respect of which Tariff Concession Orders shall not be made, by specifying the tariff heading or sub-heading of the restricted goods in Column 2 of Schedule 2. Column 3 of Schedule 2 lists goods that are exceptions to the restriction provided for in Column 2.
Upon request by Stephen J Austin & Associates, the Minister for Industry, Technology and Commerce advised that Formula Ford racing cars would be removed from Column 2 of Schedule 2 to the Regulations which would, in effect, enable duty free entry for those vehicles via a Tariff Concession Order. The date of that advice was 15 July 1991.
Regulation 6 amends the Regulations to enable a Tariff Concession Order to be made in respect of Formula Ford racing cars.
iii) New Refund circumstance
The circumstances under which refunds, rebates and remissions are made are prescribed in regulation 126 of the Regulations.
When a retrospective reduction in customs duty is effected, importers will have paid more duty than they were subsequently required to. It is appropriate that in such circumstances they be able to obtain a refund of the excess duty paid. Regulations 3 and 5 provide for such a refund circumstance.
Details of the regulations are as follows:
1. Commencement
Regulation 1.1 provides for a commencement date of 15 July 1991 for regulation 6 which enables Formula Ford racing cars to be eligible for duty free importation via a Tariff Concession Order.
This retrospective commencement does not offend subsection 48(2) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 as it confers the benefit of eligibility for duty free entry. The 15 July 1991 commencement is the date of the Government's decision to grant Tariff Concession eligibility to these goods.
2. Amendment
Regulation 2.1 is a formal machinery provision which provides that the Customs Regulations are amended as set out in these Regulations.
3. Regulation 126 (Circumstances under which refunds, rebates and remissions are made)
Regulation 3.1 effects a technical drafting change to regulation 126 to modernise its style.
Regulation 3.2 inserts a new paragraph 126 (eb) in the Regulations to enable an applicant to obtain a refund of duty in circumstances where there has been a retrospective reduction in that duty.
The new refund circumstance covers the three means of notifying such a reduction in duty, namely;
- when a Customs Tariff or Customs Tariff alteration proposed in the Parliament has the effect of making the duty payable on imported goods less than the duty that was payable when the goods were entered for home consumption (new subparagraph 126(eb)(i));
- where a notice of an intention to propose in the Parliament a Customs Tariff or Customs Tariff alteration has been published in the Gazette pursuant to subsection 273EA(1) of the Customs Act 1901 (new subparagraph 126(eb)(ii)); and
- where an amendment of the Customs Tariff Act 1987 has the effect of making the duty payable on imported goods less than the duty that was payable when the goods were entered for home consumption (new subparagraph 126(eb)(iii)).
Regulation 3.3 effects a technical drafting change to regulation 126 in consequence of the amendment in regulation 3.1 above.
4. New regulation 127AA - Rounding down cash payments of dues
Regulation 4.1 inserts a new regulation 127AA in the Regulations to provide for the rounding down of duty to the nearest 5 cents by authorising an appropriate remission of duty.
The new Regulation is a response to the Government's 1990 Budget decision to phase out one and two cent coins, and provides for a mandatory remission of the relevant excess where the conditions specified in the regulation are satisfied; that is, if an amount of duty payable on goods is:
a) to be paid in cash; and
b) not a multiple of 5 cents;
then the number of cents in excess of the next lower amount that is a multiple of 5 cents must be remitted.
• where duty is to be paid by methods other than cash (such as credit card, cheque, and electronic means), duty will still be charged and collected to the nearest cent.
5. Regulation 128A (Time for application for refund of duty)
Regulation 5.1 inserts a new subregulation 128A(4A) in the Regulations as a consequence of the amendments effected by regulation 3.2 above. The newsubregulation provides that an application for a refund of duty in a circumstance specified in the new paragraph 126(eb) may be made within 12 months of whichever first occurs of the three methods of notifying the reduction in duty specified previously in the notes on regulation 3.2.
• The amendments to regulation 128A are intended to ensure that an applicant for a refund of duty has 12 months from the earliest date on which he or she would have become aware of their rights to such a refund, to apply for that refund.
- in relation to reductions in duty affected by an amendment to the Customs Tariff Act 1987 it is important to note that the 12 months within which to lodge an application for refund will begin to run from the later of either Royal Assent of the amending Act or the commencement of the amending provision (new subparagraph 126(eb), (iii) refers).
6. Schedule 2 (Goods in respect of which concession orders shall not be made)
Regulation 6.1 enables Formula Ford racing cars to be eligible for a Tariff Concession order by including those goods in Column 3 of Schedule 2 (item 38) to the Regulations.