Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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CUSTOMS AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2000 (NO. 11) 2000 NO. 287

STATUTORY RULES 2000 No. 287

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Justice and Customs

Customs Act 1901

Customs Amendment Regulations 2000 (No. 11)

Section 270 of the Customs Act 1901 (the Act) provides in part that the Governor-General may make regulations not inconsistent with the Act prescribing all matters which by the Act are required or permitted to be prescribed for giving effect to the Act.

The purpose of the amending Regulations is to amend the Customs Regulations 1926 (the Regulations) to change the terms "agent's licence" and "customs agent" to "broker's licence" and "customs broker" respectively, to increase the fee payable for the grant or renewal of a broker's licence, to change some forms from prescribed forms to approved forms and to correct a reference to a Schedule to the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations 1958.

Schedule 3 to the Customs Legislation Amendment Act (No. 2) 1999 (the Amendment Act) replaces the term "customs agent" with "customs broke?' throughout the Act. The amending Regulations will make complementary amendments to the Regulations.

The Amendment Act also increases the duration of a broker's licence from 1 year to 3 years and changes the expiry date for such licences from 31 December each year to 30 June every three years. To ensure that all broker's licences are renewable on the same day the expiry dates of those licences has been set out in the Act. They are 31 December 2000, 30 June 2003 and at three year intervals after the last expiry date. As a result of these changes a review of the fees payable for the grant or renewal of a broker's licence was conducted. The Regulations will increase the fee payable by a natural person who does not intend to act as a customs broker in his or her own right from $20 to $120 and in any other case from $200 to $1200 (new subregulation 158(2) refers). The current fees were introduced in 1985, and the new fees were determined following the review of those fees.

Regulations 162A and 162B of the Regulations require a notice under subsection 183J(1) of the Act and a summons to be in the form set out in the Regulations. The proposed Regulations will amend these regulations to require those forms be in an approved form (items 4, 5 and 7 of the amending Regulations). Under section 4A of the Act an approved form is a form that is approved, by instrument in writing, by the Chief Executive Officer of Customs and is a disallowable instrument for the purposes of section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901. This will provide some flexibility in the form of the notice and summons.

Details of the amending Regulations are set out in the Attachment.

The amending Regulations commence on gazettal.

ATTACHMENT

CUSTOMS AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2000 (No. 11)

Regulation 1 - Name of regulations

Regulation 1 provides that the amending Regulations are named the "Customs Amendment Regulations 2000 (No. 11)".

Regulation 2 - Commencement

Regulation 2 provides that the amending Regulations are to commence on gazettal.

Regulation 3 - Amendment of Customs Regulations 1926

Regulation 3 provides that Schedule 1 amends the Customs Regulations 1926 (the Regulations).

SCHEDULE 1 - AMENDMENTS

Item 1 - After regulation 107

Item 1 inserts new regulation 107AA into the Regulations. New regulation 107AA is the same as current regulation 166 but has been rewritten to reflect modem drafting style.

Item 2 - Regulations 156, 157, 158 and 159

Item 2 replaces regulations 156, 157, 158 and 159 of the Regulations.

Schedule 3 to the Customs Legislation Amendment Act (No. 2) 1999 (the Amendment Act) amends the Act to replace the term "Customs agent" with "Customs broker".

Regulation 156 presently provides that in regulations 157, 158, 159, 160, 162, 162A, 162B and 166, agents licence, Committee, corporate customs agent, customs agent, nominee and person have the meanings referred to in subsection 180(1) of the Act.

New regulation 156 has removed the reference to regulation 166 (as this has become new regulation 107AA) and the references to "corporate customs agent" and "nominee" (as these terms are not used in the relevant regulations). New regulation 156 replaces the terms "agents licence" and "customs agent" with "broker's licence" and "customs broker", respectively to reflect the amendments made by the Amendment Act.

New regulation 157 is substantially the same as the current regulation 157 but the term "agents licence" has been replaced with "broker's licence" and the regulation has been redrafted to reflect modern drafting style.

New regulation 158 provides the fees that are payable for the grant or renewal of a broker's licence.

New subregulation 158(1) provides a transitional arrangement which ensures that a person who applies for a broker's licence between the commencement of the amending Regulations and 31 December 2000 (and hence the licence will have an expiry date of 31 December 2000) will pay the same fee that was paid by all the other brokers for a licence with that same expiry date, ie the lower amounts.

New subregulation 158(2) provides that the fee payable for the grant or renewal of a broker's licence that, after the grant or renewal, is due to expire after 31 December 2000 is:

*       if the applicant for the grant or renewal is a natural person who does not intend to act, as a customs broker in his or her right - $120; or

*       in any other case - $1200.

New regulation 159 is substantially the same as the present regulation 159. It has been amended to replace the terms "agents licence" and "customs agent" with "broker's licence" and "customs broker" respectively. It has also been amended to reflect modem drafting style.

Item 3 - Regulation 160

Item 3 amends regulation 160 to replace the term "agents licence" with "broker's licence" and to reflect modem drafting style.

Item 4 - Regulation 162A

Item 4 replaces regulation 162A of the Regulations.

Current regulation 162A provides that a notice under subsection 183J(I) of the Act to a person that a question relating to an agents licence held by the person has been referred under section 183CQ of the Act to the Committee shall be in accordance with Form 57. Form 57 is contained in Schedule 1 to the Regulations.

New regulation 162A provides that such notice in respect of a question relating to a broker's licence shall be in the approved form. The purpose of this amendment is to provide some flexibility in the form of the notice. Under section 4A of the Act an approved form is a form that is approved, by instrument in writing, by the CEO and such instrument is a disallowable instrument for the purposes of section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.

Item 5 - Regulation 162B

Item 5 amends regulation 162B to allow the summons given under subsection 183K(1) of the Act to be in the approved form rather than in the form set out in the Regulations. Again, this provides some flexibility.

Item 6 - Regulation 166

Item 6 omits regulation 166. This has been replaced by regulation 107AA (see item 1 above).

Item 7 - Schedule 1, Forms 57 and 57A

Item 7 omits Forms 57 and 57A from Schedule 1 to the Regulations. These forms are going to be replaced by approved forms (see items 4 and 5 above).

Item 8 - Schedule 1AA, Part 2, item 9, column 2

Item 8 will replace a reference to Schedule 9 to the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations 1958 with Schedule 7. The Customs (Prohibited Exports) Amendment Regulations 2000 (No. 1) recently renumbered Schedule 9 and it became Schedule 7.