EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules 1985 No. 137
Excise Regulations (Amendment)
Issued by the Authority of the Minister of State for Industry, Technology and Commerce.
The regulations are part of a package of regulations designed to amend Customs and Excise legislation to reflect revised standards for wines and spirits adopted by the National Health and Medical Research Council.
Details of the regulations are as follows:
Regulation 1
Inserts into Regulation 2, the interpretation provision, a definition of “spirituous beverage” for the purposes of the Regulations.
Regulation 2
Repeals Regulation 83A and substitutes a new Regulation 83A defining the term “fortifying spirit”. That term has the same meaning that it has in the Distillation Act 1901.
Regulation 3
Amends Regulation 84 by omitting the term “fresh grapes” and substituting “grapes, products of grapes or grapes and products of grapes” to equate with the revised standards.
Regulation 84 previously permitted Australian spirits to be delivered for fortifying Australian wine or grape must if the wine or grape must is manufactured wholly from fresh grapes. Wine is now defined as an alcoholic beverage produced by the complete or partial fermentation of grapes and/or products of grapes.
Regulations 4 to 8
Repeal redundant Regulation 85 and Part VII of the Excise Regulations, omit redundant sub-regulations 86(2) and 92(3) and substitute a new heading in Part XX of the Regulations.
Regulation 9
Contains a schedule of further consequential amendments which in particular substitute the term “liqueur” wherever it occurs with the term “spirituous beverage”.