EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1983 No.44
Issued by the Authority of the Minister of State for Primary Industry
EXPORT CONTROL (GENERAL) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Section 25 of the Export Control Act 1982 (the Act) assented to on 9 June 1982 provides for the Governor-General to make regulations for the purposes of carrying out or giving effect to the Act. The Section also enables regulations to be made for or in relation to the imposition of fees in respect of the registration of premises, vehicles, ships or aircraft; the quarantine or denaturing of prescribed goods; the analysis of samples and the extent to which a certificate of analysis is to be prima facie evidence of the facts stated in that certificate; the imposition of fees for the services of authorized officers; the keeping of records; penalties not exceeding $1,000 and the making of orders by the Minister. Section 7 of the Act provides that the regulations may prohibit the export of prescribed goods from Australia absolutely, to a specified place or unless specified conditions or restrictions are complied with.
Sub-regulation 4(1) of the Export Control (General) Regulations provides for the declaration of prescribed goods and fish is included in the declared list. Sub-regulation 4(2), however, excludes from the requirements of the Regulations fish that is not intended for human consumption,
fish imported from a licensed foreign boat and fish that was imported after having been first landed in a port or place outside Australia. In practice these exemptions have made control over fish intended for export difficult because of the procedures required by the industry and Customs.
Customs clearance procedure relies on checking the ship’s manifest rather than physically sighting the product. The ship’s manifest frequently describe the product simply as “fish” and it is virtually impossible, under these circumstances, to distinguish between fish excluded from the Regulations and fish to which the Regulations apply and for which an export permit must be issued. This has created a situation under which fish which requires an export permit could be exported without one.
It is necessary to rectify this situation by providing some form of control over the export of all fish. This can be achieved by amending the Export Control (General) Regulations.
The proposed amendments to the Regulations make provision for the following:
(a) Repeal of the exclusions in paragraphs 4(2)(e), (f) and (g) of the Regulations thus making all fish prescribed goods;
(b) For fish presently excluded by paragraphs 4(2)(e), (f) and (g) of the Regulations to comply with the following limited conditions only
(i) be subject to examination;
(ii) have a notice of intention to export lodged; and
(iii) be covered by an export permit; and
(c) All other fish to comply with all the provisions of the Regulations.
The proposed amendments reflect current administrative arrangements and will not impose any additional requirements on industry.