Legislative Instruments (Agricultural Export Instruments) Sunset-Altering Declaration 2014

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Issued by the Attorney‑General
in compliance with section 26 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003

INTRODUCTION

This declaration was made under paragraph 51A(1) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (the LIA) and is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the LIA. The declaration is subject to the disallowance provisions of the LIA.

OUTLINE

The purpose of Part 6 of the LIA on sunsetting of legislative instruments is to ensure that legislative instruments are kept up to date and only remain in force for so long as they are needed.

Paragraph 51A enables the Attorney-General to align the sunsetting dates of two or more instruments by a declaration. The instruments will then all cease to be in force on the day specified in the declaration instead of the scheduled sunsetting day of each instrument.

This allows instruments to continue to be in force for a further but limited period of time when they would otherwise sunset – or to sunset earlier than the originally scheduled sunsetting day. This removes the administrative burden as well as legislative inconsistencies which arise from remaking instruments of related legislation independently at different times.

PROCESS BEFORE CERTIFICATE WAS MADE

Regulatory impact analysis

Before this certificate was issued, its expected impact was assessed using the Preliminary Assessment tool approved by the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR). That assessment indicated that it would have no or low negative impact on businesses, individuals and the economy. This assessment has been confirmed by the OBPR (OBPR reference 14747).

Statement of compatibility with human rights obligations

Before this regulation was made, its impact on human rights was assessed using tools and guidance published by the Attorney‑General’s Department. It is fully compatible with human rights as defined in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

Consultation before making

Before this declaration was issued, the Attorney‑General considered the general obligation to consult imposed by section 17 of the LIA, and the specific circumstances where consultation may be unnecessary or inappropriate set out in section 18. Consultation involved the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Department of Agriculture. The declaration does not significantly alter existing arrangements or interfere with other planned reviews of agricultural legislation. Accordingly, further consultation was unnecessary.

Statutory preconditions relevant to this declaration

If the Attorney-General is satisfied that the statutory conditions in section 51A of the LIA are met, the sunsetting day of two or more legislative instruments can be aligned by means of a declaration made under that section. In terms of process, the LIA requires:

-          the responsible rule maker to apply to the Attorney-General

-          the Attorney-General to be satisfied that the instrument meets the statutory conditions, and

-          the Attorney-General to make a declaration which is a legislative instrument and subject to disallowance.

More information

The detail of the declaration is provided in Attachment A.

A copy of each instrument which is the subject of this declaration, and which will now sunset at a different day as specified in this certificate, is available on the whole‑of‑government ComLaw websitehttp://www.comlaw.gov.au.

ATTACHMENT A

NOTES ON THE DECLARATION           

Section 1 Name of declaration

This section provides for the declaration to be named as the Legislative Instruments (Agricultural Export Instruments) Sunset-altering Declaration 2014. The declaration may be cited by that name.

Section 2  Commencement

This section provides for the certificate to commence on the day after it is registered.

Section 3 Authority

This section provides that the certificate is made under paragraph 51A(1) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003. 

Section 4 Repeal of agricultural export instruments to facilitate review etc.

This section provides that each instrument mentioned in Schedule 1 is repealed on 1 April 2020. This is the aligned sunsetting day for those instruments, which would otherwise sunset between 1 April 2015 and 1 April 2022. For most of the instruments the sunsetting day is thus deferred to a later day; for some it has been moved forward to an earlier day. For the purpose of clarity the section includes a statement that the legal requirements are met, i.e. that these instruments would otherwise be repealed by section 50 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003, that they are or will be the subject of a single review and that the declaration facilitates the undertaking of the review.

Section 5 Repeal of this declaration

This section provides that the declaration is repealed on 2 April 2020, which is the day after the aligned sunsetting day. This declaration remains thus in force only as long as it is needed.

Schedule 1- Repeals

This schedule inserts a table with all the legislative instruments of agricultural export legislation for which sunsetting is aligned to 1 April 2020. The second column of the table identifies the name of the legislative instrument and the third column identifies the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments (FRLI) identifier number for each instrument.