EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

 

Select Legislative Instrument 2009 No. 186

 

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Home Affairs

Customs Act 1901

Customs Amendment Regulations 2009 (No. 3)

 

Section 270 of the Customs Act 1901 (the Customs Act) provides, in part, that the Governor‑General may make regulations not inconsistent with the Customs Act prescribing all matters necessary or convenient to give effect to the Customs Act.

The amending Regulations, which amend the Customs Regulations 1926 (the Principal Regulations), are consequential to amendments to the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 (the PI Regulations) and the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations 1958 (the PE Regulations), which prohibit, without permission, the importation and exportation of viable materials derived from human embryo clones. The new import and export controls for viable material derived from human embryo clones is contained, respectively, in new regulation 5L of the PI Regulations and regulation 8A of the PE Regulations.

Section 233BAB of the Customs Act provides that it is an offence to import or export a tier 2 good which is prohibited absolutely or that requires an import or export approval if that approval has not been obtained. Part 2 of Schedule 1AA to the Principal Regulations lists the goods that are tier 2 goods. Item 13 in Part 2 of Schedule 1AA lists viable material derived from human embryo clones.

The amending Regulations substitute item 13 with a new item 13. New item 13 lists viable material derived from human embryo clones to which new regulation 5L of the PI Regulations and 8A of the PE Regulations applies. The amendment merely updates the reference in item 13 to the provisions in the PI Regulations and PE Regulations under which the importation and exportation of this viable material is controlled.

The amending Regulations also repeal item 12 of Part 2 of Schedule 1AA to the Principal Regulations. Item 12 of Part 2 lists human embryos as a tier 2 good if regulation 7 of the PI Regulations was in effect. As regulation 7 of the PI Regulations was repealed on 12 June 2007 by Schedule 4 to the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction and the Regulation of Human Embryo Research Amendment Act 2006, item 12 is redundant and therefore has been removed from Part 2 of Schedule 1AA.

With the repeal of item 12 of Part 2 of Schedule 1AA the term 'human embryo' is no longer used in the Principal Regulations. The amending Regulations omit the definition of 'human embryo' from subregulation 1A(1) of the Principal Regulations. The amending Regulations also update the definition for the term 'human embryo clone' in subregulation 1A(1) to reflect that the title to the Prohibition of Human Cloning Act 2002 was changed to the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction Act 2002 on 12 June 2007.

As the amending Regulations are consequential to amendments that insert new regulation 5L into the PI Regulations and regulation 8A into the PE Regulations and are of a minor and machinery nature, no consultation was undertaking in relation to the amending Regulations.

The amending Regulations commence on the day after they are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.

0812256A