Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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CUSTOMS (PROHIBITED IMPORTS) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1997 NO.22

STATUTORY RULES 1997 NO. 22

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Small Business and Consumer Affairs

Customs Act 1901

Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations (Amendment)

Section 50 of the Customs Act 1901 ("the Act") provides in part that:

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

"(2) The power conferred by the last preceding subsection may be exercised - (a) by prohibiting the importation of goods absolutely, ...or (c) by prohibiting the importation of goods unless specified conditions or restrictions are complied with.

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

The Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations ("the Regulations") control the importation of the goods specified in the various regulations or the Schedules to the Regulations, by prohibiting importation absolutely, or making importation subject to the permission of a Minister or a specified person. These regulations insert a new regulation 4S in order to control the importation of disposable cigarette lighters.

Background

In September 1996, the Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs decided that regulatory controls should be introduced to require disposable cigarette lighters to meet construction and performance criteria, as well as have child resistant features. This decision resulted from the fact that since May 1994 ten children have been killed in house fires which were found to have been started with disposable lighters, and seven of these deaths have occurred since May 1996.

The Trade Practices Act 1974 and associated regulations are to be used as the primary legislation to introduce the safety standard. Controls on the importation of disposable cigarette lighters will commence on 1 March 1997 and controls at a retail level will start on 1 October 1997. As all disposable cigarette lighters sold in Australia are imported, the controls under these Regulations are designed to complement the Trade Practices Act 1974 controls. Details of the Regulations areas follows:

Regulation 1 - Commencement and Regulation 2 - Amendment

Subregulation 1.1 provides that new regulation 4S commences on 1 March 1997.

Subregulation 2.1 provides that the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations are amended as set out in these regulations.

Regulation 3 - New regulation 4S

Regulation 3 provides for a new regulation 4S to be inserted into the Regulations. This new regulation sets out the details of the controls on the importation of fighters. New regulation 4S is headed "Importation of fighters".

New subregulation 4S(1) provides that the importation into Australia of a "lighter" (as defined in subregulation 4S(4)) is prohibited unless either the person importing the fighter has completed a statutory declaration stating that a certificate of compliance, within the meaning of the American standard (as defined in subregulation 4S(4)) has been issued in accordance with that standard, and that statutory declaration is produced to the Collector (see paragraph 4S(1)(a)), or the Minister has granted permission in writing to import the fighter (see paragraph 4S(1)(b)).

New subregulation 4S(2) provides an exception to the general prohibition set out in proposed new subregulation 4S(1) for persons who are 18 years of age or older and who are passengers on a ship or aircraft. These passengers are permitted to import no more than 5 fighters at any one time. This exception is considered desirable so as to avoid any unnecessary disruption to international travellers at the Customs barrier. Further, it is not considered that this exception will undermine the central purpose of the controls, which is aimed at the control of commercial importations of fighters.

New subregulation 4S(3) provides the Minister with a general power to impose conditions in any permissions granted.

New subregulation 4S(4) provides the Minister with the power to revoke a permission if it is subject to a condition or requirement and the holder fails to comply with the condition or requirement.

New subregulation 45(5) provides for the insertion of two new definitions which are used for the purposes of regulation 4S. These definitions are of the terms "American Standard" and "lighter". In the case of the term "American Standard" the details of the particular Consumer Product Safety Standard for Cigarette Lighters are set out, along with publication details.

In the case of the term "Lighter", the same definition is adopted here as is used in the Trade Practices (Consumer Product Safety Standard) (Disposable Cigarette Lighters) Regulations, with the exception that instead of a including a separate definition of the term "child", the definition in these regulations incorporates the meaning of that term, namely that it means a child under 5 years of age. It is children of this age who are the focus of the safety standards.

These regulations commence on 1 March 1997.