EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Health and Ageing

A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999

The purpose of this Determination is to grant GST-free status to packets containing 25 or less tablets (small packets) of ibuprofen-based analgesics (by brand names such as Nurofen, Panafen and Herron Blue).

Section 177–10 (4) (b) of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999
(the GST Act) provides that the Health Minister may make a determination in respect to
s.38–47 (1) of the GST Act.  This section of the GST Act provides that a health good is
GST-free if it is a supply of goods of a kind that the Health Minister, by determination in writing, declares to be goods the supply of which is GST-free.

In June 2003, the National Drugs and Poisons Scheduling Committee (NDPSC) made a decision to exempt small packets of ibuprofen-based analgesics from the scheduling requirements of Schedule 2 of the Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Drugs and Poisons (SUSDP).  As a result of this decision, small packets of ibuprofen-based analgesics can now be sold in non-pharmacy settings.  A side effect of this decision was that these small packets of ibuprofen-based analgesics lost their GST-free status. 

A Determination made on 1 July 2000 granted GST-free status to small packets of single active ingredient aspirin and paracetamol-based analgesics.  The Determination I am now tabling makes small packets of ibuprofen-based analgesics GST-free, to be consistent with the treatment of small packets of aspirin and paracetamol-based analgesics. 

This Determination replaces an earlier Determination, GST-free Supply (Drugs and Medicinal Preparations) Determination 2004, which came into effect from 1 April 2004.  Due to an administrative oversight, that Determination was not tabled in Parliament, and had lapsed after 15 June 2004.  The Determination I am tabling today will therefore take effect retrospectively from 16 June 2004, to ensure the continuity of GST-free status for these products.

All the necessary legal requirements have been met, as required before exercising the power to make this determination.  The Office of Regulation Review have advised that a Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) is not required.