EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1987 No. 325
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy
DAIRY PRODUCE LEVY (NO 1) ACT 1986
DAIRY PRODUCE LEVY REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
The Dairy Produce Levy (No 1) Act 1986 (the Act) provides for the Governor-General to make regulations for the purposes of the Act.
The Act provides for the imposition of a levy on dairy products produced at a factory on or after 1 July 1986 and provides for exemption of this levy when the product is exported or has been used in the production of other products (“mixtures”) that have been exported.
The exemption of the levy provided under the Act is subject to a minimum weight limit of 15 tonnes (approximately one container load), or if a lesser weight is prescribed, that lesser weight. This limit was included in the legislation to eliminate claims for reimbursement that would result in only small benefits to the claimant but significant administration cost to the Australian Dairy Corporation (ADC), which administers the market support arrangements.
After one year of administering the new dairy marketing arrangements, the ADC believes it is more time consuming to check the 15 tonne requirement than it would be to process small transactions involving consignments of less than 15 tonnes. The system also proved to be inequitable in cases where one manufacturer exports small amounts in large consignments and other manufacturers export large amounts in small consignments.
In view of these considerations, the Australian Dairy Corporation has recommended to the Minister that the “minimum weight” requirement to be removed. The regulation achieves this result by reducing the “minimum weight” requirement to a token amount (one kilogram).