EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES NO. 405 of 1989
Issued by the authority of the Minister of State for Resources
EXPORT INSPECTION (ESTABLISHMENT REGISTRATION CHARGES) ACT 1985
Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges)
Regulations (Amendment)
Section 9 of the Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Act 1985 (the Act) allows the Governor-General to 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 carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Section 9 was introduced into the Act by the Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Act 1987 which has not yet come into operation but will do so on a date to be proclaimed by the Governor-General.
Section 4 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 provides that where an Act, being an Act that is not to come into operation immediately upon its enactment is expressed to confer power, or to amend another Act in such a manner that the other Act, as amended, will confer power, to make an appointment or to make an instrument of a legislative character, including regulations, then the power may be exercised, and anything may be done for the purpose of enabling the exercise of the power or of bringing the appointment or instrument into effect, before the Act concerned comes into operation as if it had come into operation. An instrument made under this section may provide for its coming into operation on a day no earlier than that on which the Act concerned comes into operation..
Subsection 6(1) of the Act provides for charges to be imposed in accordance with the regulations, in relation to the registration of an establishment, being an establishment that is registered for operations associated with the preparation of a prescribed commodity specified under the regulations.
Section 7 of the Act provides that the rate of charge in relation to the registration of an establishment is such rate as is applicable under the regulations.
Before the Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Amendment Act 1987 may be proclaimed, amendments to the Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charge) Regulations (the Principal Regulations) are necessary to give effect to the amending Act.
Amendments to the Principal Regulations will make it clear that an establishment to which the Act refers operates under a continuous registration system, that is the initial registration is renewed annually. Amendment is also necessary to accommodate the imposition of an amount of charge for registration of additional operations at that establishment during the registration year.
The Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Regulations (Amendment), the proposed Regulations, make provision for the amount of charge for the registration of an establishment for operations associated with the preparation of a commodity prescribed by the Principal Regulations, namely fish or poultry meat, to be a monthly charge which is payable annually in advance. In addition, where the establishment is
registered for additional operations during a registration year, the charge is imposed from the beginning of the month in which the establishment’s registered for the additional operations and ends on the next anniversary of the first registration.
The proposed Regulations also define a “prescribed month” and a “prescribed day” to facilitate the imposition of a monthly charge, and the Schedule to the Principal Regulations is amended to replace the annual charge with a monthly charge for each item. The proposed monthly charge has been calculated by dividing the current annual charge by 12 and taking any uneven result to the next full dollar, producing only minor alterations to the amount of charge. An exception is Item 9, formerly Item 8A, of the Schedule where there is a higher than normal increase in charge to reflect the following -
i. Workers compensation premiums have doubled from their 1988/89 level resulting in an increase from 3.5% to 6.4% of salary outlay.
ii. Employers contribution to superannuation has increased from 21% of salary to 24.5% - an increase of 16.7%.
iii. The cost of compliance and malpractice investigation activities has been included in the charge base for the first time following a review and re-organisation of this activity. This has added 1% to the cost of inspection for this Item.
iv. A factor of 6.3% has been included for anticipated operational (excluding salaries) cost increases during 1989/90.
v. A change to the method of allocation of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service head office costs across commodities to more accurately reflect actual distribution of costs has resulted from the devolution of Departmental support costs to the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service.
vi. The level of charge for this item has not been increased since October 1987.
Details of the proposed Regulations are set out in the attachment to this statement.
Attachment
Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Regulations (Amendment)
Regulation 1 provides that the proposed Regulations will commence on the date of commencement of the Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Amendment Act 1987.
Regulation 2 states that the Principal Regulations will be the Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charge) Regulations for the purposes of the proposed Regulations.
Regulation 3 amends Regulations 2 of the Principal Regulations by changing “Charge” to “Charges”, thereby citing the Principal Regulations as the Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Regulations, which are in accordance with the citation in the Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Amendment Act 1987.
Regulation 4 repeals Regulation 3 of the Principal Regulations and substitutes proposed Regulation 3, which defines, for the purposes of the proposed Regulations:
a “prescribed day”, with respect to the registration of an
establishment, as the twenty-eighth day in any month where the establishment is first registered on the twenty-eighth day or any day after that day in a month, or where the establishment is first registered on any other day in a month, that day in any month;
a “prescribed month”, in relation to the registration of an establishment, as the period of time commencing at the beginning of a prescribed day in a month and ending immediately before the beginning of the prescribed day in the next month; and
“the Act” to mean the Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Act 1985
Regulation 5 amends Regulation 4 of the Principal Regulations by adding a new subregulation. New subregulation 4(2) imposes charges in relation to the registration of an establishment for any operations associated with the preparation of fish and poultry meat for the following periods:
(a) for the year commencing on the day on which the establishment is first registered, and
(b) for each succeeding year of registration, and
(c) where the establishment becomes registered for additional operations during a registration year, for the period of time commencing at the beginning of a prescribed month in which the establishment is registered for additional operations and ending on the next anniversary of the first registration after that month.
Regulation 6 repeals Regulation 6 of the Principal Regulations and substitutes a new Regulation 6 which, in relation to the registration of one item of an establishment of a kind specified in Column 2 of the Schedule to the proposed Regulations, determines the rate of charge to be the amount per prescribed month, specified in Column 3 of the Schedule; and in relation to the registration of an establishment specified in Column 2 of the Schedule of more than one item, the rate of charge is the higher or highest amount for any of those items per prescribed month, specified in Column 3.