Overview

The Tariff Concessions Revocation Instrument No. 62/2007, made under the Customs Act 1901, was introduced to address the issue of revoking tariff concession orders when a local producer of substitutable goods makes a request for revocation. Enacted by the Commonwealth Parliament, this instrument was established to provide a mechanism for revoking tariff concession orders that may have inadvertently granted benefits to importers when local production of similar goods already existed. The policy objective is to ensure that tariff concessions are granted only when necessary, preventing the unnecessary disadvantage to Australian producers. The instrument allows the Chief Executive Officer of Customs to revoke a tariff concession order if it is determined that a local producer of substitutable goods exists and that the concession would not have been granted had the local production been known at the time of the original application.

Scope and Application

The Customs Act 1901, specifically Part XVA, governs the creation and revocation of Tariff Concession Orders (TCOs) by the Chief Executive Officer of Customs (CEO). This legislation allows for a reduced rate of customs duty on goods covered by a TCO, provided no substitutable goods are produced in Australia at the time of the application. The CEO is mandated to revoke a TCO if it is demonstrated that the TCO no longer meets the core criteria and that a producer in Australia now manufactures substitutable goods. This process is subject to consultation requirements where the CEO must publish a notice in a Gazette when a revocation request is received. The Tariff Concessions Revocation Instrument No 62/2007, which revokes TCO 0603135 covering conveyor belting, was made effective on 23 April 2007, following a request from Fenner Dunlop and the CEO's satisfaction that the conditions for revocation were met. This revocation is effective from the day the request was lodged, notwithstanding the prohibition on retrospective legislative instruments under the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

Key Provisions

The Tariff Concessions Revocation Instrument 62/2007 (the Instrument) revokes Tariff Concession Order 0603135, which pertained to conveyor belting. The primary sections involved in this revocation are sections 269C, 269P, 269SB, 269SC, and 269SD of the Customs Act 1901. Section 269C details the process for making a Tariff Concession Order (TCO), while section 269P outlines the criteria that must be met for such an order to be valid. Section 269SB allows a producer in Australia of substitutable goods to request the revocation of a TCO, and section 269SC sets out the conditions under which the Chief Executive Officer of Customs (the CEO) must revoke a TCO. Finally, section 269SD specifies the timing for the revocation order to take effect. The Act imposes certain obligations on parties who engage with the tariff concession scheme. For instance, producers in Australia of goods that may be considered substitutable to those covered by a TCO have the right to request a revocation of that TCO under section 269SB. The CEO, on the other hand, is obligated to make an order revoking the TCO if the CEO is satisfied that the requesting party is indeed a producer of substitutable goods and that the TCO would not have been made had it not already been in force on the day the request was lodged (section 269SC). Furthermore, the CEO is required to publish a notice in the Gazette as soon as practicable after receiving a request for revocation, providing details of the TCO in question (subsection 269SC(1A)). In terms of consequences for non-compliance, the Act does not explicitly outline specific offences, penalties, or consequences for breaches of the tariff concession scheme. However, revocation of a TCO as per the requirements of the Act can have significant financial implications for importers and exporters who relied on the tariff concessions. The revocation of TCO 0603135, for example, means that the lower customs duty rates applicable to conveyor belting are no longer in effect, potentially increasing costs for importers. The Instrument, in revoking the TCO, ensures that the tariff concessions are only available under the strict conditions stipulated by the Act.