EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
CUSTOMS ACT 1901
CUSTOMS REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
STATUTORY RULES 1988 NO. 270
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR SCIENCE, CUSTOMS AND SMALL BUSINESS
These Statutory Rules effect numerous technical drafting amendments to the Customs Regulations to modernize their drafting style. The exercise has included the elimination of the double year citation of Acts, as provided for in section 6 of the Acts Citation Act 1976, and the removal of references to repealed sections of Acts.
In addition, the reference in regulation 99B to the Australian Harmonized Export Commodity Classification document is being updated to reflect that this document was reprinted on 1 July 1988, and Schedule 2 is being amended by omitting the reference to “Prepared room deodorisers”, as these goods were placed in the exception to the exclusion column in error.
Details of the regulations are as follows:
Regulation 1: is a machinery provision which defines the Customs Regulations as the “Principal Regulations” for the purposes of these Statutory Rules.
Regulation 2: amends the interpretation section of the Customs Regulations (regulation 1A) by;
a) omitting the definition of “primage duty”, as this type of duty ceased with the introduction of the “simplified” Tariff on 1 January 1983, Act No. 113 of 1982, and current legislation contains no reference to such duty; and
b) eliminating the double year citation of the Customs Act 1901.
Regulation 3: eliminates the double year citation of the Customs Act 1901 in regulation 3.
Regulation 4: amends subregulation 25(1) of the Customs Regulations to give effect to the current drafting style of only placing the conjunction “and” or “or” prior to the last item of a list, rather than after each item on the list.
Regulation 5: amends regulation 37 of the Customs Regulations in the following manner:
a) by introducing the current abbreviated drafting style for referring to paragraphs of sub-regulations i.e. the old style “(a) to (r)(inclusive) of sub-regulation (1)” becomes “(1)(a) to (r)(inclusive)”. This has been done in respect of both paragraphs 37(2)(a) and 37(3)(a);
b) by omitting paragraph 37(2)(c) which requires that the “rate of any sales tax applicable to the goods as at the date of importation” be shown on an entry for warehousing pursuant to section 68 of the Customs Act 1901. A recent review of regulation 37 revealed that this requirement has been obsolete for some time. Sales tax in fact is imposed on goods at the time the goods are entered for home consumption, as a result of a 1985 Sales Tax Amendment Act; and
c) by omitting subregulation (4) and substituting a new subregulation which:
• omits the reference to section 40A of the Customs Act 1901, as this section was repealed by Act No. 81 of 1982;
• ensures that the terms actually used in the legislation which this regulation is intended to complement, i.e. Item 1 of Part I of Schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act 1987, appear here as well.
Thus for example, the references to goods that “are the property of the Australian Government …” are replaced with references to goods that “are owned by the Commonwealth” to accord with the exact terms of the Customs Tariff Act 1987.
In addition, the term “statement” has been substituted for “certification” and a new requirement inserted that this statement to be provided by a “duly authorised officer” must now be given in a form approved by the Comptroller in writing.
Regulation 6: makes various technical drafting changes to regulation 72 of the Customs Regulations, to reflect current drafting style; for example, the phrase “the last preceding paragraph” is no longer used, instead specific reference is made to the particular paragraph, i.e. “paragraph (1)(b)”.
In addition, the opportunity has been taken to delete the reference to “section 20 of the Customs Tariff 1966” as there is no modern equivalent of this provision in the Customs Tariff 1987.
Regulation 7: amends regulation 99B of the Customs Regulations to reflect the fact that the Australian Harmonized Export Commodity Classification document was most recently reprinted as at 1 July 1988.
Regulation 8 and Regulation 9: amend regulations 106 and 134 (respectively) of the Customs Regulations to reflect modern drafting style.
Regulations 10, 11, 12 and 13: amend regulations 135, 136, 191 and Schedule 1 (respectively) to the Customs Regulations to reflect modern drafting style.
Regulation 14: amends item 8 of Schedule 2 to the Customs Regulations by omitting “Prepared room deodorisers”. These goods were placed amongst the exceptions to the exclusion schedule in error by Statutory Rules 1987 No. 316. Those Statutory Rules were designed to introduce a new Schedule 2 to accord with the terms of the new harmonized tariff system, and while there was no intention to make previously ineligible goods eligible for tariff concessions, this unfortunately occurred in the instance of “Prepared room deodorisers”.
Regulation 15 and the Schedule: regulation 15 of the proposed Statutory Rules provides for the incorporation into the Customs Regulations of the various amendments set out in the Schedule.
All the amendments in the Schedule are of a technical nature to reflect modern drafting style.