Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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CUSTOMS (PROHIBITED EXPORTS) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1997 NO. 380

STATUTORY RULES 1997 No. 380

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Customs and Consumer Affairs

Customs Act 1901

Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations (Amendment)

Section 112 of the Customs Act 1901 (the Act) provides in part that:

"(1)       The Governor-General may, by regulation, prohibit the exportation of goods from Australia.

(2)       The power conferred by subsection (1) may be exercised - ... (c) by prohibiting the exportation of goods unless specified conditions or restrictions are complied with.

(2A)       Without limiting the generality of paragraph (2)(c), the regulations - ... (a) may provide that the exportation of the goods is prohibited unless a licence, permission, consent or approval to export the goods or a class of goods in which the goods are included has been granted as prescribed by the regulations;

..."

The purpose of the regulations was to remove the control ~n the exportation of coffee from Australia.

The Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations (the Regulations) control the exportation of the goods specified in the Regulations or the Schedules to the Regulations, by prohibiting exportation absolutely, or making exportation subject to the permission of a Minister or an authorised person

Under subregulation 6(4) of the Regulations, the exportation of coffee is prohibited unless:

(a)        there is produced to the Collector a certificate valid under the International Coffee Agreement 1983 ("the ICA") to which Australia is a party or permission in writing in granted by the Minister or an authorised person for the exportation of the coffee;

(b)       the quantity of coffee to be exported does not exceed a specified limit in respect of the various type of coffee, or

(c)       the coffee is exported in accordance with an approval granted under subsection 129(1) of the Act.

The controls on the exportation of coffee were originally introduced to meet Australia's treaty obligations as a member of the ICA.

Quotas under the ICA have been suspended since July 1989 and Australia is no longer a member of the ICA. It is also unlikely that Australia will become a member of the ICA again. There was, therefore, no basis for continuing with the controls on the exportation of coffee.

Regulation 2 omitted regulation 6 which related to the control of the exportation of coffee from the Regulations.

The regulations commenced on gazettal.