EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
DISTILLATION ACT 1901
DISTILLATION REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
STATUTORY RULES 1990 NO. 219
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR SMALL BUSINESS AND CUSTOMS
Section 83 of the Distillation Act 1901 provides in part that “The Governor-General may make regulations not inconsistent with this Act for prescribing all matters which by this Act are required or permitted to be prescribed or which may be necessary or convenient to be prescribed for giving effect to this Act.”
The Statutory Rules amend the Distillation Regulations (the Regulations) by repealing regulations 57, 71, 72 and 72A of the Regulations.
Background
An examination has recently been concluded in the Australian Customs Service on the various control regimes prescribed in the Spirits legislation. In particular, the Distillation Regulations were scrutinised with respect to the various controls contained therein on the addition of colourings and flavourings to spirits during a “production” process, with a view to repealing those which are considered to be more adequately covered by other Commonwealth or State legislation, or are suitable to another form of Customs control.
The four Regulations noted above have been repealed against those criteria, as follows:
Regulations 71, 72 and 72A were essentially quality control measures to ensure that spirits are correctly coloured or flavoured during manufacture. Quality controls for foodstuffs, including alcoholic beverages, are now covered by the Trade Practices Act 1974 and individual State legislation, and are based on the standards set in the National Health and Medical Research Council Food Standards Code 1987. The Council concurs that the controls in the three Distillation Regulations have been rendered redundant, and agreed to their repeal.
Regulation 52 was slightly different to the above Regulations, in that it dealt with the “flavouring” of local spirits through blending with imported spirits. The control regime for imported (customable) goods which may be used in the manufacture (including blending) of excisable goods is set out in Section 24 and Regulation 2A of the Excise Act 1901 and the Excise Regulations respectively. Following the examination of the Distillation Regulations, it was considered the situation
addressed in Regulation 57 was more appropriately dealt with as a prescribed case and subject to prescribed conditions in Excise Regulation 2A. The repeal of Regulation 57 was therefore consequential upon the amendment of Regulation 2A of the Excise Regulations, which was processed together with these Statutory Rules.