EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Export Control (Orders) Regulations 1982

Export Control (Fees) Amendment Orders 2006 (No. 4)

Sub-section 25(1) of the Export Control Act 1982 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for the carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

Paragraph 25(2)(d) of the Act allows regulations to be made for the imposition of fees in connection with the performance of services by authorised officers and the remission of fees so imposed.

Paragraph 25(2)(daaa) of the Act allows regulations to be made for the imposition of fees in connection with the performance of a service by the Secretary or a delegate of the

Secretary, and the remission of fees so imposed.

Paragraph 25(2)(g) of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations empowering the Minister to make orders, not inconsistent with the regulations, with respect to any matter for or in relation to which provision may be made by the regulations.

Regulation 3 of the Export Control (Orders) Regulations 1982 provides that the Minister may, by instrument in writing, make orders, not inconsistent with regulations made under the Act, with respect to any matter for or in relation to which provision may be made by regulations made under the Act.

The Export Control (Fees) Orders 2001 (the Principal Orders) impose fees in connection with the performance of services by authorised officers.

The purpose of the Export Control (Fees) Amendment Orders 2006 (No. 4) (the Amendment Orders) is to amend the fees in the Principal Orders applying to goods that are fish or fish products, eggs or egg products; processed fruit and vegetables and goods in respect of which an application has been made under section 8.05 of the Export Control (Prescribed Goods – General) Order 2005 to:

• increase the rates payable for inspections performed at an authorised officer’s ordinary place of work and at other than an authorised officer’s ordinary place of work; and
• increase the costs for documentation.

In addition, the Amendment Orders amend the fees in the Principal Orders applying to goods that are fish or fish products, eggs or egg products and goods in respect of which an application has been made under section 8.05 of the Export Control (Prescribed Goods– General) Order 2005, to:

• increase the overtime rates payable in respect of inspections;
• remove redundant fees for services away from an officer’s ordinary place of work that require an overnight stay.

The Amendment Orders also remove the requirement for an occupier of a registered establishment in relation to fish or fish products to pay an annual fee to be an EXDOC registered user subject to certain conditions. 

Consultation on the fee changes in the Amendment Orders has occurred with the Seafood Exports Consultative Committee which is the principal forum for AQIS and the seafood export industry to consult on all issues arising from the management of Australia’s export strategies for fish and fish products.

Specific consultation on the changes to the fees has been undertaken through the SECC Finance Sub-Committee.  The sub-committee findings have been presented to the full membership of SECC and AQIS has obtained endorsement and support for the proposed increase in fees. 

Consultation with participants in the egg industry has been undertaken with direct correspondence to individual clients as there are so few registered egg establishments and there is no peak industry body for this commodity.  No comments have been received on the proposed amendment to fees. increase in fees.  No consultation has occurred with the exporters of processed fruit and vegetables and goods in respect of which an application has been made under section 8.05 of the Export Control (Prescribed Goods – General) Order 2005 because such exporters are few in number, and are irregular (and sometimes once only) users of AQIS services.

The Amendment Orders are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

Details of Amendment Orders are as follows:

Order 1 provides that the name of the Amendment Orders is the Export Control (Fees) Amendment Orders 2006 (No. 4).

Order 2 provides that the Amendment Orders commence on the day after they are registered. 

Order 3 provides that Schedule 1 amends the Principal Orders.

Order 4 provides that the amendment made by item [3] of Schedule 1 does not affect the fee payable by any EXDOC registered user who applied to interact with EXDOC prior to the commencement of that amendment.  The effect of this Order is to clarify when the amendment made by item [3] of Schedule 1 applies.

Schedule 1 - Amendments

Item 1

Item 1 increases the rates for overtime for services provided by an authorized officer for the export of fish or fish products, eggs or egg products or goods in respect of which an application has been made under section 8.05 of the Export Control (Prescribed Goods – General) Order 2005.  Section 8.05 of the Export Control (Prescribed Goods – General) Order 2005 allows exporters of goods not normally regulated for export purposes to apply to the Secretary for a government certificate for such goods.  The increase in fees is necessary because the officers performing overtime services in relation to these commodities have received successive annual pay increases since the last review of overtime fees.  In addition, the costs for the delivery of overtime for these commodities reflects the true cost to deliver the service and has diverged from the other commodities for which overtime rates are applied but which have not been subject to recent cost modelling.

Item 2

Item 2 amends suborder 19(2) of the Principal Orders.  The effect of this item is to cease the application of suborder 19(1) to fish or fish products, eggs or egg products or goods in respect of which an application has been made under section 8.05 of the Export Control (Prescribed Goods – General) Order 2005.  Suborder 19(1) applies rates for services provided away from an officer’s ordinary place of work that requires an overnight stay.  This amendment is made because officers no longer perform services that require overnight stays in respect of fish or fish products, eggs or egg products or goods in respect of which an application has been made under section 8.05 of the Export Control (Prescribed Goods – General) Order 2005. 

Item 3

This item inserts a definition for EXDOC registered user in suborder 29(2) of the Principal Orders.  The effect of this item is to restrict the application of suborder 29(1) to EXDOC registered users who are not occupiers of establishments registered to carry on operations in respect of fish or fish products.  Suborder 29(1) imposes a fee of $150 for each year or part of a year during which an EXDOC registered user interacts with EXDOC.  EXDOC is defined in suborder 4(1) of the Principal Orders to mean the ‘AQIS electronic documentation system’.   EXDOC registered users who are also occupiers of establishments registered to carry on operations in respect of fish or fish products are no longer required to pay the fee imposed by suborder 29(1) because this group of EXDOC registered users contribute to the costs of interaction with EXDOC through their establishment registration fees.  

Item 4

This item amends the description of the service in Schedule 3, item 9, column 2 of the Principal Orders.  The effect of this item is to clarify that the fee in item 9, column 3 applies in relation to services relating to goods that are egg products and fish products.

Items 5 and 6

These items increase the fees payable for inspection services for both services performed at an officer’s ordinary place of work and at other than an officer’s ordinary place of work in respect of fish and fish products, eggs and egg products, processed fruit or vegetables or goods in respect of which an application has been made under section 8.05 of the Export Control (Prescribed Goods – General) Order 2005.  The changes in fees for particular services for these goods incorporate an amended cost structure and recognise the additional cost associated with the delivery of services.  The additional costs primarily result from salary increases paid to staff in the period since the last review of fees.  The amended cost structure better reflects the direct and indirect costs associated with the service and ensures greater accuracy in the allocation of costs and subsequent recovery arrangements.

Items 7 to 9 

These items amend that part of Schedule 5 of the Principal Orders which deals with electronic and manual issue of documentation fees for the export of fish and fish products.  Item 7 amends both the descriptions of documents issued and fees in this part of Schedule 5.  Items 8 and 9 amend fees only.

The changes to the descriptions of documents issued in this part of Schedule 5 are minor clarifying amendments except for the insertion of new item 5 in Schedule 5 to replace item 4A in Schedule 5.  The new item replaces the description relating to the multiple issue of manual export documentation for fish and fish products.  This change is made because although in past years the high volume of manual documentation issued allowed for cost concessions to be provided to high volume users, a significant reduction in the industry use of manual documentation no longer allows for high volume concessions and negates the requirement for a multiple issue charge. 

The changes in documentation fees for fish and fish products incorporate an amended cost structure and recognises the cost of additional AQIS effort associated with the delivery of documentation.  The additional costs for the issuance of documentation primarily result from salary increases paid to staff in the period since the last review of fees.  The amended cost structure better reflects the direct and indirect costs associated with the delivery of documentation and ensures greater accuracy in the allocation of costs and subsequent recovery arrangements. 

In particular, the cost of issuing documentation requiring AQIS intervention for the export of these goods used to consist of two separate fees: a documentation fee and a fee for service.  Under the new structure the fees for documentation now recognises the effort costs within a single charge, that is, a documentation fee which incorporates the fee for service component.

Item 10 to 15

These items increase the fees in certain parts of Schedule 5 of the Principal Orders.  In particular, items 10 to 12 increase the fees for the issue of export documentation for eggs or egg products, items 13 and 14 increase the fees for the issues of export documentation for processed fruit or vegetables and item 15 increases the fee for the issue of documentation for goods (except wool, skins and hides) in respect of which an application has been made under section 8.05 of the Export Control (Prescribed Goods – General) Order 2005.  

The changes in documentation fees for these goods incorporate an amended cost structure and recognise the cost of additional AQIS effort associated with the delivery of documentation.  The additional costs for the issuance of documentation primarily result from salary increases paid to staff in the period since the last review of fees.  The amended cost structure better reflects the direct and indirect costs associated with the delivery of documentation and ensures greater accuracy in the allocation of costs and subsequent recovery arrangements. 

In addition, the increase in fees for manual documentation for these goods reflects a change in the fee structure.  In particular, the cost of issuing manual documentation for these goods used to consist of two separate fees: a documentation fee and a fee for service.  Under the new structure only one fee is charged, that is, a documentation fee which incorporates the fee for service component. 

The fees for each type of manual documentation is consistent for fish and fish products, eggs and egg products and goods in respect of which an application has been made under section 8.05 of the Export Control (Prescribed Goods – General) Orders 2005 and recognizes the equivalent cost of AQIS effort to deliver the documentation irrespective of the commodity.