Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Amendment Regulations 2000 (No. 1) 2000 No. 132
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 2000 No. 132
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection Act 1991
Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Act 1999
Primary Industries (Customs) Charges Act 1999
Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection Amendment Regulations 2000 (No. 1)
Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Amendment Regulations 2000 (No. 1)
Primary Industries (Customs) Charges Regulations 2000
Section 30 of the Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection Act 1991 provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted by that Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to that Act.
Section 8 of the Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Act 1999 provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted by that Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to that Act.
Section 8 of the Primary Industries (Customs) Charges Act 1999 provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted by that Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to that Act.
The Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Act 1999, (the Excise Levies Act), and the Primary Industries (Customs) Charges Act 1999, (the Customs Charges Act), consolidated the imposition of duties of excise and of customs on various primary industry commodities and products. In the consolidation process the former individual levies and charges imposition Acts were repealed. Regulations made under the repealed Acts were continued in force under transitional provisions in the Excise Levies Act and Customs Charges Act. The Collection Act provides the mechanisms for an efficient and effective collection process for all primary industry duties of excise and of customs. The Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection Regulations 1991 (Collection Regulations) contain the details required for the collection process.
The purpose of these regulations is to continue the process of replacing regulations that were made under those Acts that have been repealed. The Collection Regulations are divided into Schedules to be generally and serially compatible with those in the Excise Levies Act, since the number of commodities on which excise levies are imposed is greater that the number of commodities on which customs charges are imposed. The naming and numbering of Schedules in the Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Regulations 1999 reflect the naming and numbering of Schedules to the Excise Levies Act. Similarly, the naming and numbering of Schedules to the Primary Industries (Customs) Charges Regulations 2000 reflect the naming and numbering of Schedules to the Customs Charges Act.
There are no policy changes or new requirements for levy payers (other than two matters mentioned in Attachment 2). The details for each levy or charge now follow a standard format to simplify readability. Similar regulations have been done for the National Residue Survey levies.
Details of the substantive provisions contained in the proposed Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection Amendment Regulations 2000 (No. 1), Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Amendment Regulations 2000 (No. 1) and Primary Industries (Customs) Charges Regulations 2000, are included in Attachments 1, 2 and 3 respectively.
The Regulations commence on 1 July 2000.
ATTACHMENT 2
PRIMARY INDUSTRIES (EXCISE) LEVIES AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2000 (No. 1 )
The Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Amendment Regulations 2000 (No. 1) (the Amending Excise Regulations) involve no change in legal obligations apart from a provision relating to the home slaughter of cattle and livestock for home consumption and a provision that the imposition of excise on transactions is exclusive of GST. These two matters are expanded upon below.
Regulation 1 provides for the citation of the Amending Excise Regulations.
Regulation 2 provides that the commencement of the Amending Excise Regulations as 1 July 2000.
Regulation 3 provides that the amendments to the Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Regulations 1999 are as set out in Schedule 1 to the Amending Excise Regulations.
Schedule 1 to the Amending Excise Regulations
The following references to Items are references to the Items in Schedule 1 to the Amending Excise Regulations.
Item 1 alters paragraph 6 of the reader's guide in recognition that the amending regulations insert the names and numbers of new Schedules to correspond with the names and numbers of the Schedules in the Excise Levies Act.
Item 2 substitutes a new paragraph 9 into the reader's guide.
Item 3 amends paragraph 11 of the reader's guide.
Item 4 corrects a reference in regulation 3.
Item 5 inserts a new provision, regulation 3A, into the Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Regulations 1999. This is the first of the two new matters foreshadowed above. The intention of the regulation is to make it clear that excise is calculated, for the purposes of the Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Regulations 1999 as a whole, on the amount paid for a particular product exclusive of GST. With this provision in place, there will be no excise payable under the Excise Levies Act on the GST component of any of the transactions to which that Act relates.
Item 6 omits the note to regulation 5 because the Amending Excise Regulation inserts Schedules 1, 2 and 3.
Item 7 inserts Schedule 1 (Beef production), Schedule 2 (Buffalo slaughter) and Schedule 3 (Cattle transactions) into Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Regulations 1999.
In relation to new Schedule 1, it should be noted that clause 1 provides that no amount of levy is payable. This is in spite of levy being prescribed in clause 2. This arrangement is in recognition of voluntary payments in lieu of compulsory exaction of excise levies under the Excise Levies Act.
Consultation by the Minister as contemplated by clause 5 of Schedule 1 was not necessary because the Amending Excise Regulations do not alter the levy rates.
In relation to Schedule 3, a provision is inserted providing an exemption in relation to the slaughter of cattle by a producer for use on the premises of the producer. This exemption applies if there is no sale or other transaction involving the cattle or any part or product of the carcase. There was consultation with the Cattle Council of Australia who sought inclusion of the exemption.
item 8 corrects a drafting error by changing "section" to "clause".
Item 9 inserts a note into Schedule 4 (Coarse grains) adverting to new regulation 3A which provides that excise will be on the sale price exclusive of GST.
Item 10 corrects a typographical error by changing "Levy" to "Levies".
Item 11 omits note 3 from clause 4 of Schedule 4. This is because the Amending Excise Regulations insert a schedule heading, namely Schedule 5 (Cotton). See further below under Item 12.
Item 12 inserts a heading for Schedule 5 (Cotton) and explains in a note that Schedule 5 will deal with cotton. This will happen at the time when the relevant provisions to the Cotton Research Levy Regulations are migrated to regulations made under the Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Regulations 1999.
Item 13 omits the note from clause 4 of Schedule 6 for reasons similar to that mentioned above under Item 11.
Item 14 inserts, in keeping with the style used for the insertion of the heading for Schedule 5 (Cotton), headings for Schedule 7 (Deer slaughter), Schedule 8 (Deer velvet), Schedule 9 (Dried fruits), Schedule 10 (Forest industries products), and Schedule 11 (Goat fibre). Again, as for Schedule 5 (Cotton), notes under each of the new headings set out where the current levy details can be found pending the migration of those details to regulations made under the Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Regulations 1999.
Items 15 corrects a drafting error by changing "section" to "clause".
Item 16 inserts a note into Schedule 4 (Grain legumes) adverting to new regulation 3A which provides that excise will be on the sale price exclusive of GST.
Item 17 omits notes 3, 4 and 5 from clause 3 of Schedule 12 for reasons similar to that mentioned above under Item 11.
Item 18 inserts, also in keeping with the style (including similar notes) used for the insertion of Schedule 5 (Cotton), headings for Schedule 13 (Grapes), Schedule 14 (Honey), Schedule 15 (Horticultural products) and Schedule 16 (Laying chickens).
A number of definitions are included into new Schedule 15. This is done in Part 1.
Schedule 15 also includes new Part 12 (Nursery products). The provisions in the Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection (Nursery Products) Regulations are being migrated to the Primary Industries (Excise) Regulations 1999 to form Part 12. Separate regulations effect the repeal of the Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection (Nursery Products) Regulations. A note is included in Part 12 adverting to new regulation 3A which provides that excise will be on the sale price exclusive of GST.
Item 18 also inserts Schedule 17 (Live-stock slaughter) migrating those regulations under Part 4 of the Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection (Buffalo, Cattle and Live-stock) Regulations 1998 that were made under the Live-stock Slaughter (Processors) Levy Act 1997 to the Primary
Industries (Excise) Levies Regulations 1999.
Consultation by the Minister as contemplated by clause 5 of Schedule 17 was not necessary because the Amending Excise Regulations do not alter the levy rates. In any event, there is no body that is a declared body for the purposes of Schedule 17 to the Excise Levies Act.
As compared to the corresponding provisions in the Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection (Buffalo, Cattle and Live-stock) Regulations 1998, there is no difference in the nature of the obligations as expressed in new Schedule 17.
Item 18 also inserts Schedule 18 (Live-stock transactions) conveying those regulations appearing under Part 4 of the Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection (Buffalo, Cattle and Livestock) Regulations 1998 that were made under the repealed Live-stock Transactions Levy Act 1997 to the Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Regulations 1999.
Consultation by the Minister as contemplated by clause 6 of Schedule 18 was not necessary because the Amending Excise Regulations do not alter the levy rates. In any event, there is no body that is a declared body for the purposes of Schedule 17 to the Excise Levies Act.
As compared to the corresponding provisions in the Primary Industries Levies and Charges
Collection (Buffalo, Cattle and Live-stock) Regulations 1998, there is no difference in the nature of the obligations as expressed in new Schedule 18. However two matters should be noted. The first of these matters is one of the two new issues that was foreshadowed above.
The first matter relates the slaughter of live-stock for home consumption. Clause 3 of new
Schedule 18 provides an exemption applying to the slaughter of live-stock by a producer for use on the premises of the producer. This exemption applies if there is no sale or other transaction
involving the live-stock or any part or product of the carcase.
The second matter relates to the manner of calculating the levy amount. Whereas the rates are set out in the Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection (Buffalo, Cattle and Live-stock) Regulations 1998 in the form of tables (amounting to approximately 30 pages), the proposed new Schedule 18 uses formulas. For example, in the case of a $75 lamb, the calculation will be as follows -
Example
Value of lamb $75.00
From clause 5 of Schedule 18 to the Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Regulations 1999 -
Multiply by 0. 0 12 (specified in clause 5 (1)(a)) $0.90
Multiply by 0.0049333333 (specified in clause 5(1)(b)) $0.37
Multiply by 0.002 (specified in clause 5(1)(c)) $0.15
From regulation 240 of the Primary Industries Levies and Charges (National Residue Survey Levies) Regulations 1998 -
Multiply by 0.00 10666666 $0.08
Total $1.50
i.e. 2% of $75.00
In practice, live-stock agents (who generally collect the levies), deduct 2% of the total sale within the range $5.00 (inclusive) to $10 (inclusive) for sheep and $5.00 (inclusive) to $75 (inclusive) for lambs. Accordingly they are not required to make a calculation of the type exemplified above.
Upon the collection of the revenue by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry-Australia, the disbursement of funds received from ad valorem transactions excise levies on sheep and lambs are made monthly in accordance with the following percentages -
Sheep
Allocated to | percentage |
Meat and Livestock Australia Limited (MLA) for marketing | 43.5% |
MLA for research and development (R&D) | 38.5% |
Australian Animal Health Council | 9% |
National Residue Survey | 9% |
TOTAL | 100% |
Lambs
Allocated to | percentage |
MLA for marketing | 60% |
MLA for R&D | 24.6667% |
Australian Animal Health Council | 10% |
National Residue Survey | 5.3333% |
TOTAL | 100% |
The reason for the large number of decimal places (applying to lamb transactions only) in two of the multiplication factors (as shown in the above example) is to provide greater accuracy. This is demonstrated as follows. For a month in which $600,000 is raised in lamb levy (approximating a typical month at the time of the making of the regulations), the difference between the amount raised for R&D (using 10 decimal places in the multiplication factor indicated in clause 5 (1)(b)) and the amount disbursed for R&D (using 4 decimal placed in the percentage disbursement factor indicated the above table, ie 24.6667%) is approximately 20 cents.
Item 18 also inserts, also in keeping with the style (including similar notes) used for the insertion of Schedule 5 (Cotton), a heading for Schedule 19 (Meat chickens).
Items 19 corrects a drafting error by changing "section" to "clause".
Item 20 inserts a note into Schedule 20 (Oilseeds) adverting to new regulation 3A which provides that excise will be on the sale price exclusive of GST.
Item 21 omits the note from clause 2 of Schedule 20 for reasons similar to that mentioned above under Item 11.
Item 22 inserts, also in keeping with the style (including similar notes) used for the insertion of Schedule 5 (Cotton), a heading for Schedule 21 (Pasture seeds) and Schedule 22 (Pig slaughter).
Item 23 inserts a new note into Schedule 23.
Item 24 inserts, also in keeping with the style (including similar notes) used for the insertion of Schedule 5 (Cotton), a heading for Schedule 24 (Sugar cane).
Item 25 inserts a note into Schedule 25 (Wheat) adverting to new regulation 3A which provides that excise will be on the sale price exclusive of GST.
Item 26 inserts a new note in Schedule 25.
Item 26 inserts, also in keeping with the style (including similar notes) used for the insertion of Schedule 5 (Cotton), a heading for Schedule 26 (Wine grapes).