EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1984 No. 117
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Primary Industry
WOOL INDUSTRY ACT 1972
The Wool Industry Act 1972 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations which are not inconsistent with the Act and which may prescribe penalties not exceeding $500 for offences against the Regulations.
In particular, the Act provides that the Regulations may make provision for and in relation to -
• the registration and inspection of wool sampling sites, and
• the fees payable in respect of the registration and inspection of sampling sites in accordance with the regulations.
The purpose of the Regulations is to amend the Wool Industry (Sampling Sites) Regulations to take account of the omission from the Wool Industry Act 1972 of any reference to the Australian Wool Testing Authority. The Authority was abolished and its rights, property and assets vested in the Australian Wool Corporation. The Corporation also became liable to pay or discharge any debts, liabilities or obligations of the Authority.
The fees payable by the operator of a registered sampling site for the inspection of the site by the Department of Primary Industry were formerly calculated from the number of International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) Presale Test Certificates issued by the Australian Wool Testing Authority in respect of samples of wool drawn at the site.
The amendment requires the operator of the site to keep a record of the number of lots of wool from which samples are drawn on the site, being samples that are suitable for testing for the purpose of the issue of IWTO Certificates.
The inspection fee for a site will now be calculated from the number of such samples disclosed in a record required to be forwarded by the operator of the site to the Secretary of the Department of Primary Industry.
The amending Regulations also delete other references to the Australian Wool Testing Authority which no longer have any effect.