EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
CUSTOMS ACT 1901
CUSTOMS REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
STATUTORY RULES 1989 NO. 243
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR SCIENCE, CUSTOMS AND SMALL BUSINESS
Section 270 of the Customs Act 1901 (“the Act”) provides in part that “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 or as may be necessary or convenient to be prescribed for giving effect to this Act …”
Schedule 2 to the Customs Regulations was repealed by Statutory Rules No. 316 of 1987, and a new Schedule substituted to accord with the terms of the new Harmonized Tariff (Act No. 82 of 1987).
Whilst there was no intention to make previously ineligible goods eligible for tariff concessions and vice versa, an error occurred in relation to tablets used for artificial eye or contact lens cleaning or disinfection. By virtue of a change in the tariff classification of the goods upon transfer from the Customs Tariff Act 1982 to the Customs Tariff Act 1987 those goods became ineligible for a tariff concession order despite having been previously eligible.
These Statutory Rules correct this error by inserting additional exceptions to the exclusions listed in Schedule 2 (Regulation 2). Regulation 1 provides for the amendments to commence on 1 January 1988, the date the amendments introduced by Statutory Rules No. 316 of 1987 and the Customs Tariff Act 1987 became operative.
As these Statutory Rules confer a benefit, sub-section 48(2) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 is not offended by the retrospective commencement date.