Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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CUSTOMS AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2010 (NO. 2) (SLI NO 95 OF 2010)

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

 

Select Legislative Instrument 2010 No. 95

 

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Home Affairs

Customs Act 1901

Customs Amendment Regulations 2010 (No. 2)

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 or as may be necessary or convenient to be prescribed for giving effect to the Act.

Section 168 of the Act provides that the regulations may make provision for and in relation to allowing drawbacks of duty paid on goods imported into Australia. A drawback is essentially a refund of import duty that is payable on the exportation of previously imported goods where the goods meet certain requirements.

Regulation 129 through to regulation 136B of the Customs Regulations 1926 (the Principal Regulations) set out the circumstances in which goods are eligible for drawback of import duty, the methods of calculating the amount of drawback, and the procedures that must be followed before a drawback is payable.

The purpose of the amending Regulations is to prescribe the method by which a claim for drawback of import duty can be lodged electronically.

Regulation 134 of the Principal Regulations provides that a drawback of import duty in not payable on the exportation of goods unless each of the requirements in the regulation is met. Subregulation 134(4) provides that a claim for drawback must be in an approved form and set out the amount of the claim and such other information as the form requires. In the Customs context, the reference to an approved form in subregulation 134(4) means that a claim for drawback can only presently be made in a documentary form. The Chief Executive Officer of Customs has approved a documentary approved form for this purpose.

The Integrated Cargo System (the ICS) is the computer system by which importers and customs brokers electronically provide information to the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (Customs and Border Protection). The ICS has been in operation since 2005 and initially did not contain the functionality whereby a claim for drawback could be electronically lodged with Customs and Border Protection. However, recent enhancements to the ICS now allow claims for drawback to be made electronically using the ICS. In the Customs context, electronic communications to Customs and Border Protection are made in the form of an approved statement, as opposed to an approved form.

The amending Regulations amend regulation 134 to insert new subregulation 134(4A), which provides that a claim made electronically for drawback of import duty must include information as required by an approved statement. The Chief Executive Officer of Customs will approve an approved statement for this purpose.

New subregulation 134(4A) also provides that a claim must be transmitted, and signed, in a manner that meets the information technology requirements determined under section 126DA of the Act. Under section 126DA, the Chief Executive Officer of Customs has determined, by legislative instrument, all of the information technology requirements that have to be met by persons who wish to communicate with Customs and Border Protection electronically. This determination will be amended to require that persons who wish to lodge an electronic claim for drawback must use the ICS.

The amending Regulations also make a minor amendment to subregulation 134(4) to state that a claim for drawback made in an approved form is made by document.

Customs and Border Protection has consulted extensively with people likely use the ICS to lodge an electronic claim for drawback. Customs and Border Protection has also placed notices on the Customs website about these arrangements.

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

1009892A

 


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