Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATION AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2002 (NO. 1) 2002 NO. 158

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

STATUTORY RULES 2002 No. 158

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Justice and Customs

Customs Administration Act 1985

Customs Administration Amendment Regulations 2002 (No. 1)

Section 18 of the Customs Administration Act 1985 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing matters which are required or permitted by the Act, or are necessary or convenient to be prescribed.

Section 16 of the Act prohibits the disclosure of protected information held by Customs to any person except under certain circumstances. In particular, subsection 16(10) of the Act concerns the disclosure of classes of protected information containing personal information. Such disclosures must be authorised by the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Customs Service (CEO) and can be made only to agencies or organisations specified in the Customs Administration Regulations 2000 (the principal Regulations). The class of information specified in the authorisation must also be listed in the principal Regulations as a class of information that may be disclosed to that agency or organisation.

The principal Regulations list a number of Commonwealth agencies, State agencies, instrumentalities or agencies of foreign countries, and international organisations for the purposes of subsection 16(10) of the Act and specify the classes of information permitted to be released to each entity.

The purpose of the amending Regulations is to facilitate information sharing arrangements between Customs and selected foreign and international organisations and to enable Customs to further assist certain Commonwealth and State agencies in performing their functions, by making available to them additional classes of protected information containing personal information.

The amending Regulations will:

•       effect minor changes in the spelling of the titles of some agencies in Schedule 1 of the principal Regulations (Regulations 1, 2, 30 refer);

•       effect changes in the titles of certain agencies in Schedule 2 of the principal Regulations (Regulations 9, 10, 11, 17, 27, 28 refer);

•       remove certain agencies from the list of agencies in Schedule 2 of the principal Regulations (Regulations 3, 15, 16 refer);

•       add certain agencies to the list of agencies in Schedule 2 of the principal Regulations and specify the classes of information permitted to be disclosed to those agencies (Regulations 5, 7, 12, 13, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 29, 30 refer); and

•       enable additional classes of information to be disclosed to certain agencies already listed in Schedule 2 of the principal Regulations (Regulations 4, 6, 8, 14, 17, 18, 20, 24, 27 refer).

The regulations commenced on the day of gazettal.


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