EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
CUSTOMS ACT 1901
CUSTOMS REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
STATUTORY RULES 1989 NO. 100
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 “(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 or as may be necessary or convenient to be prescribed for giving effect to this Act…”
New subsection 270(3A) of the Act provides that “(3A) Where, in any regulations made for the purposes of this Act, reference is made to the document known as the Australian Harmonized Export Commodity Classification published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, that reference shall, unless the contrary intention appears in those regulations, be read as a reference to that document as so published and as in force from time to time.”
These Statutory Rules delete the reference to a specific date of publication of the document known as the Australian Harmonized Export Commodity Classification (AHECC) in Regulation 99B of the Customs Regulations (the Regulations).
In the past, this document has been regularly updated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and each time this has occurred, an amendment to the Regulations has been required to incorporate the latest date of publication.
However, with the passage of the Customs and Excise Legislation Amendment Act (No. 2) 1989 (Act No. 24 of 1989), and in particular, the amendment to the Customs Act 1901 made by section 28 of that Act, it is now possible to refer to the AHECC by name only, and by virtue of new subsection 270(3A) (reproduced above) this will automatically ensure that the reference is to that document “as so published and as in force from time to time”.
This will obviate the need to repeatedly amend the Regulations to reflect the updated publication of the AHECC.