EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Migration Act 1958
ELIGIBLE PASSPORTS
(Section 175A)
- This Instrument is made under section 175A of the Migration Act 1958 (‘the Act’).
2. Section 175A of the Act provides that for the purposes of Division 5 of Part 2, which deals with immigration clearance, the Minister or the Secretary may determine, by legislative instrument, that a specified kind of passport is an eligible passport.
3. This Instrument revokes Instrument number IMMI 07/030 signed on 24 August 2007. The purpose of the Instrument is to determine that Australian ePassports, New Zealand ePassports and United States of America ePassports are eligible passports.
4. The Instrument operates to provide access to SmartGate automatic border processing, at Australian international airports, to Australian, New Zealand and US citizens aged 16 years and older, who are holders of an ePassport of that nationality. Extending the SmartGate automatic border processing to US citizens will improve client services, increase efficiency of border processing and enable the increasing numbers of travellers to be processed quickly.
5. Consultation was undertaken before the instrument was made as follows:
- The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service which owns the SmartGate automatic border processing system; and
- The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade which is responsible for passport security.
6. The Office of Best Practice Regulation has advised that a Regulation Impact Statement is not required (OBPR Reference 14144).
7. Under section 44 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 the Instrument is exempt from disallowance and therefore a Human Rights Statement of Compatibility is not required.
8. The Instrument, IMMI 12/102, commences on 1 November 2012.