EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules 1986 No. 173
Excise Regulations (Amendment)
Issued by Authority of the Minister of State for Industry, Technology and Commerce
Statutory Rules 1984 No. 126 amended the Excise Regulations (“the Regulations”) to:
(i) insert a new circumstance into regulation 50, as paragraph 50(1)(n), to allow rebates of excise duty to be paid on stabilised crude petroleum oil exported after 30 June 1983; and
(ii) insert a new regulation 52B to prescribe the rates of rebate to be so paid.
This regulation was made following the Government’s decision in the context of the 1983/84 Budget that excise duty would be rebated on exports of excisable “old” crude oil.
Statutory Rules 1985 No. 357 amended regulation 52B to prescribe revised rates of rebate in respect of eligible stabilized crude petroleum oil for the 1983/84 financial year and for the period from 1 July 1984 to 31 December 1984.
The purpose of these regulations is to amend the Excise Regulation to:
(i) provide for new rates of rebate in respect of eligible stabilized crude petroleum oil exported after 31 December 1984; and
(ii) provide for the rebates to be also payable on domestic free market sales of eligible stabilized crude petroleum oil sold after 31 December 1984.
No provision has been made for rebates on domestic free market sales of oil prior to 1 January 1985 as no domestic free market sales were made prior to that date.
A domestic free market sale is any sale of the oil produced at an installation in the Gippsland Basin in Bass Strait which is sold to a refiner at a price other than the ruling Bass Strait import parity price.
The regulations effect the introduction of the new rates of rebate as follows:
• regulation 1 defines the term “Principal Regulations” for the purposes of the regulations;
• regulation 2 defines the terms “Bass Strait Oil”, “domestic free market sale” and “refiner” for the purposes of the regulations;
• regulation 3 inserts an additional circumstance into regulation 50(n) of the regulations to provide for rebates of excise duty to be also payable on domestic free market sales of the oil; and
• regulation 4 amends regulation 52B of the regulations to introduce new provisions as a consequence of the rebates on domestic free market sales and substitutes a new table to the regulation specifying the rates of rebate of excise duty to be payable on all eligible stabilised crude petroleum oil.
The rates of rebate on the oil sold or exported after 31 December 1984 are -
(a) for quantities that do not exceed 3,963,514.1 kilolitres - 11.795095463;
(b) for any portion of a quantity that exceeds 3,963,514.1 kilolitres but not more than 4,067,713.1 kilolitres - 3.810756149; and
(c) for any portion of a quantity that exceeds 4,067,713.1 kilolitres - NIL.