Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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CUSTOMS AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2011 (NO. 1) (SLI NO 17 OF 2011)

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Select Legislative Instrument 2011 No. 17

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Home Affairs

Customs Act 1901

Customs Amendment Regulations 2011 (No. 1)

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.

The amending Regulations amend the Customs Regulations 1926 (the Principal Regulations) to support a recent United Nations Security Council decision against the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (Libya) under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1970 (2011) which was adopted on 26 February 2011 (the Resolution).

Sections 233BABAB and 233BABAC of the Act contain criminal offences in relation to the importation and exportation of United Nations sanctioned goods  (UN-sanctioned goods). UN-sanctioned goods are goods that are subject to trade sanctions under United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions.

Section 233BABAA of the Act provides that the regulations may prescribe goods as UN-sanctioned goods. Subsection 233BABAA(3) of the Act provides that the regulations must not specify a good as a UN-sanctioned good unless the good meets certain requirements. Firstly, the importation or exportation of the item must be prohibited by the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 (the PI Regulations) or the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations 1958 (the PE Regulations). Secondly, the regulation prohibiting the importation or exportation must give effect to a UNSC decision in relation to action with respect to threats to peace, breaches to the peace and acts of aggression in so far as that decision requires the application of measures not involving the use of armed force. 

Regulation 179AAA and Schedule 1AB to the Customs Regulations 1926 (the Principal Regulations) currently prescribe UN-sanctioned goods for the purposes of section 233BABAA.

The purpose of the amending Regulations is to prescribe as UN-sanctioned goods certain goods to which new provisions in the PI Regulations and PE Regulations relating to Libya apply.

The amending Regulations prescribe as UN-sanctioned goods those goods to which:

a)                  new regulation 4ZB of the PI Regulations applies; and

b)                  new regulation 13CS of the PE Regulations applies; and

c)                  regulation 13E of the PE Regulations applies if the immediate or final destination is, or intended to be, Libya.

New regulation 4ZB of the PI Regulations and new regulation 13CS of the PE Regulations give effect to the arms embargo against Libya imposed under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1970 (2011) which was adopted on 26 February 2011 (the Resolution).  New regulation 4ZB of the PI Regulations prohibits the importation into Australia from Libya of arms or related matériel.  New regulation 13CS of the PE Regulations prohibits the exportation from Australia of arms and related matériel (other than goods listed in the defence and strategic goods list mentioned in regulation 13E of the PE Regulations) the immediate or final destination of which is, or is intended to be Libya. 

No consultation was undertaken specifically in relation to the amending Regulations as they implement Australia's international obligations under the Resolution.

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

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