Overview

The Tariff Concessions Revocation Instrument No. 35/2011, made under the Customs Act 1901, was enacted to address the need for revoking a specific Tariff Concession Order (TCO) when the conditions for its existence no longer apply. The instrument revokes TCO 0816591, which originally covered chopping or cutting boards, due to the emergence of a local producer capable of supplying substitutable goods. This revocation process was initiated by a request from Starmaid International Pty Ltd, who demonstrated that they could produce the goods in question domestically. The instrument was made by the Chief Executive Officer of Customs, as mandated by the Act, and it came into effect on 18 September 2011, with the revocation date backdated to 27 July 2009, the date the revocation request was lodged. This instrument ensures that tariff concessions are only applied when there is a genuine need, thereby supporting local production and industry competitiveness.

Scope and Application

The Tariff Concessions Revocation Instrument 35/2011 applies to the revocation of Tariff Concession Order (TCO) 0816591 under the Customs Act 1901, which pertains to chopping or cutting boards. This revocation was made in response to a request by Starmaid International Pty Ltd, an Australian producer of substitutable goods. The instrument revokes the TCO as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Customs is satisfied that the conditions for revocation have been met, namely, that on the day the request was lodged, no substitutable goods were being produced in Australia and the CEO would not have made the TCO if the request had been made on the original application date. The CEO is required to publish a notice in a Gazette as soon as practicable after receiving a request for revocation, detailing the request and the TCO in question. The revocation takes effect from the day the request was lodged, notwithstanding certain prohibitions on retrospective legislative instruments as provided by the Legislative Instruments Act 2003. This instrument is an example of how the Customs Act allows for the revocation of TCOs under specific circumstances, impacting the tariff concessions on particular goods entering Australia.

Key Provisions

The primary operative sections of the Tariff Concessions Revocation Instrument 35/2011 (Instrument) under the Customs Act 1901 include sections 269C, 269P, 269SB, and 269SC. Section 269C outlines the process for making a Tariff Concession Order (TCO) if no substitutable goods are produced in Australia on the day an application is lodged. Section 269P specifies the conditions under which a TCO is made. Section 269SB allows a person who claims to be a producer of substitutable goods to request the Chief Executive Officer of Customs (CEO) to revoke a TCO. Section 269SC details the conditions under which the CEO must revoke a TCO, including the requirement that the CEO be satisfied that the requester is a producer of substitutable goods and that the CEO would not have made the TCO if the application were lodged on the day of the revocation request. The Act imposes several obligations on the parties involved. The CEO must satisfy certain criteria before revoking a TCO, such as confirming that the requester is indeed a producer of substitutable goods and that the TCO would not have been made if the request had been made on the day the original TCO application was lodged. Additionally, the CEO is obligated to publish a notice in a Gazette as soon as practicable after receiving a revocation request. This notice must include a statement that a request has been lodged and the full particulars of the TCO in question (subsection 269SC(1A)). This transparency measure ensures that stakeholders are informed about the revocation process and its implications. In terms of consequences, any breach of the conditions set forth by the Act may lead to revocation of the TCO, as seen in this case where TCO 0816591 was revoked following a request by Starmaid International Pty Ltd. The Instrument specifies that the revocation takes effect from the date the request to revoke the TCO was lodged (subsection 269SC(6)). This ensures that any retroactive application is managed within the legal framework, despite the prohibition in section 12 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 regarding certain retrospective instruments. No specific civil or criminal penalties are mentioned in the text for non-compliance with the revocation process, but the automatic consequence of revocation upon meeting the statutory criteria indicates a clear pathway for addressing breaches.