EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1983 NO. 93
CUSTOMS REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Issued by the Authority of the Minister of State for Industry and Commerce.
The Customs Amendment Act 1983 (Act no. 19, Assented to 14 June 1983) (the amending Act) amended the Customs Act 1901 (the Act) by inserting a new Part XVA to introduce a new system for granting tariff concessions, to be known as the commercial tariff concession system.
The new system is based on a criterion which provides for tariff concession orders to be issued by the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is satisfied that no goods serving similar functions are produced or are capable of being produced in the normal course of business in Australia.
Section 269D(1) of the amending Act provides that the Minister for Industry and Commerce shall not make a tariff concession order in respect of particular goods, declared by the Regulations to be goods in respect of which a tariff concession order shall not be made.
The main purpose of the Regulations is to amend the Customs Regulations (the Regulations), for the purposes of section 269D(1) of the amending Act, to insert a new Schedule 2 into the Regulations which lists the goods in respect of which a commercial tariff concession order will not be made.
The classes or kinds of goods to which a commercial tariff concession order will not be made are goods in respect of which a comprehensive range of both Australian made and imported goods exist and which, notwithstanding differences in construction, quality, price etc., basically compete with each other in the market place.
Included in this category are foodstuffs, motor vehicles, footwear apparel and jewellery. Tariff items covering apparel and footwear have been included in the Schedule to the Regulations but the items do not include goods such as ski boots, work gloves and urinary incontinance pants.
The inclusion of the goods in the Schedule to the Regulations is necessary because of the general interchangeability of all clothing and footwear as consumer goods. The availability of concessional entry of such goods (without an Industries Assistance Commission inquiry) is seen as being inconsistent with the objectives of the Government’s textile, clothing and footwear program of assistance.
These arguments do not necessarily hold for most textile items particularly textiles used as intermediate goods and for industrial purposes. Textiles tariff items have therefore generally been left out of the Schedule to the Regulations.
Regulation 1 inserts new regulations 184 and 185 into the Regulations to provide as follows-
Regulation 184 provides that certain terms and provisions shall for the purposes of regulation 185 and Schedule 2, have the same meanings or effect as they have for the purposes of Part XVA of the amending Act or of Schedule 3 to the Customs Tariff Act 1982, as the case may be; and
Regulation 185 specifies that tariff concession orders shall not be made in respect of the particular goods to which the Schedule to the regulations applies.
Regulations 2, 3, 4 and 5 are formal amendments only to existing regulations 195, 196, 199 and to the existing Schedule to accommodate the inclusion of Schedule 2.
Regulation 6 inserts the new Schedule 2 into the Regulations.