CUSTOMS TARIFF VALIDATION (No. 2).
No. 42 of 1941.
An Act to provide for the Validation of Collections of Duties of Customs under Customs Tariff Proposals.
[Assented to 25th November, 1941.]
BE it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, .the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows: —
Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as the Customs Tariff Validation Act (No. 2) 1941.
Commencement.
2. This Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.
Validation of collections under Customs Tariff Proposals.
3. All duties of Customs demanded or collected (whether before or after the commencement of this Act and on or before the thirty-first day of March, One thousand nine hundred and forty-two) pursuant to the Customs Tariff Proposals introduced into the House of Representatives on the second day of July, One thousand nine hundred and forty-one, on the twenty-fifth day of September, One thousand nine hundred and forty-one, and on the twenty-ninth day of October, One thousand nine hundred and forty-one, shall be deemed to have been lawfully imposed and lawfully demanded or collected.
Imposition of duties of Customs by Proclamation.
4. Where, in respect of any goods covered by any item or portion of an item in any Customs Tariff Proposal referred to in the last preceding section, it is provided that duties of Customs shall be imposed on and after a date to be fixed by Proclamation, all such duties of Customs demanded or collected on or after the date so fixed and on or before the thirty-first day of March, One thousand nine hundred and forty-two shall be deemed to have been lawfully imposed and lawfully demanded or collected.
Overview
The Customs Tariff Validation (No. 2) Act 1941 was enacted to address the need for validating the collections of duties of Customs under the Customs Tariff Proposals. The Act was passed by the Commonwealth of Australia’s Parliament and received Royal Assent on 25 November 1941. The primary policy objective of this Act was to ensure that any duties of Customs that were demanded or collected before or after its commencement, but on or before 31 March 1942, in accordance with specific Customs Tariff Proposals introduced in the House of Representatives on 2 July, 25 September, and 29 October 1941, were deemed to have been lawfully imposed and collected. This legal framework provided certainty and legitimacy to the collections made under the Customs Tariff Proposals during a critical period.
Scope and Application
The Customs Tariff Validation (No. 2) Act 1941 applies to all duties of Customs that were demanded or collected in accordance with specific Customs Tariff Proposals introduced into the House of Representatives on certain dates leading up to the enactment of this Act. This legislation serves to validate these collections, ensuring that they were imposed and collected in compliance with the law, regardless of whether the collections occurred before or after the Act received Royal Assent, provided they were made on or before the 31st of March, 1942. The Act extends its validation to duties that were to be imposed by Proclamation, deeming those duties collected on or after the specified date, but before the 31st of March, 1942, to be lawful. The Act applies to the Commonwealth of Australia and is not limited to specific persons, entities, or industries, but rather to the collections of duties of Customs under the mentioned Customs Tariff Proposals. The geographic reach of the Act is national, covering all territories within the Commonwealth of Australia. The Act does not specify any exclusions, exemptions, or thresholds, nor does it indicate any extension or restriction of its application through subordinate instruments.
Key Provisions
The Customs Tariff Validation (No. 2) Act 1941 (the "Act") primarily focuses on validating duties of customs collected under specific Customs Tariff Proposals. Section 3 of the Act stipulates that any duties of customs demanded or collected before or after the Act's commencement and on or before 31 March 1942, pursuant to the Customs Tariff Proposals introduced into the House of Representatives on specified dates in 1941, are deemed to have been lawfully imposed and collected. This means that any duties collected under these circumstances are retroactively validated as lawful.
The Act also addresses the imposition of customs duties by proclamation. Section 4 outlines that for goods covered by items or portions of items in any Customs Tariff Proposal mentioned in the previous section, if the proposal specifies that customs duties should be imposed on or after a date fixed by proclamation, then any duties demanded or collected on or after that fixed date and before 31 March 1942 are deemed to have been lawfully imposed and collected.
Under this Act, there are obligations for entities and individuals involved in the collection and imposition of customs duties. They must ensure that any duties collected under the Customs Tariff Proposals are in compliance with the provisions of the Act. Specifically, entities must adhere to the dates and conditions set out in the Customs Tariff Proposals and any subsequent proclamations to ensure that the duties are collected lawfully.
The Act does not explicitly state any offences, penalties, or consequences for breaches. However, the deeming provisions suggest that if any duties are collected outside the parameters set by the Act, they would not be considered lawful, potentially leading to legal disputes or other consequences in the absence of explicit penalties. The lack of specific penalties implies that the primary purpose is to provide legal certainty and validation to past collections, rather than to impose new sanctions.