EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules 1986 NO. 94
Customs Regulations (Amendment)
Issued by the Authority of the Minister of State
for Industry, Technology and Commerce
Sub-section 162A(1) of the Customs Act 1901 provides that the regulations may provide that-
(a) goods of a specified class;
(b) goods imported by persons of a specified class;
(c) goods of a specified class imported by persons of a specified class; or
(d) goods imported for a specified purpose,
may, in accordance with that section, be brought into Australia on temporary basis without payment of duty.
The purpose of the regulations is to amend the Customs Regulations to introduce new provisions which will permit the Comptroller-General of Customs to approve goods being brought into Australia on a temporary basis for a period not exceeding 1 year without payment of duties of Customs if the goods are to be used for purposes related to events of national significance.
The regulations provide that temporary importation of goods may be permitted if the goods-
(i) are imported for purposes related to an event of national significance;
(ii) will be exported from Australia within a period of 1 year from the date of importation;
(iii) are unlikely to be produced in Australia in the normal course of business having regard to the short term nature of the demand; and
(iv) when imported will be unlikely to have a substantially adverse effect on a market for any goods or services in Australia.
The first such instances wherein permits will be considered under the new regulations involve goods to be imported on a temporary basis for the events of the America’s cup yacht race in 1987 and the Australian Bicentennial in 1988.
Details of the regulations are as follows:-
Regulation 1
is formal amendment to the regulations consequent upon proposed regulation 125B
Regulation 2
(i) specifies the events of national significance for the purposes of the regulations (sub-regulation 125A(1));
(ii) specifies the criteria to be taken into account for the purposes of the temporary importation approval (sub-regulation 125A(2)); and
(iii) is a remake of the existing sub-regulation 125(3) for that regulation to have application to all goods imported on a temporary basis in accordance with section 162A of the Customs Act 1901; and
Regulation 3
provides for decisions of the Comptroller-General of Customs made for the purposes of proposed sub-regulation 125A(2) and regulation 125B to be reviewable by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.