Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements
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EXPORT INSPECTION (ESTABLISHMENT REGISTRATION CHARGES) AMENDMENT (EXPORTABLE GOODS) REGULATION 2014 (SLI NO 120 OF 2014)
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Select Legislative Instrument No. 120, 2014
Issued by Authority of the Minister for Agriculture
Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Act 1985
Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Amendment (Exportable Goods) Regulation 2014
Legislative Authority
The Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Act 1985 (Charges Act) provides for the ability to impose charges in relation to the registration of an export establishment. It forms part of the export legislation framework which includes the Export Inspection and Meat Charges Collection Act 1985 (Collection Act).
Subsection 6(1) of the Charges Act permits charges to be imposed for the registration of an establishment which is associated with the preparation of exportable goods, as specified in the regulations. Section 7 provides that the rate of charge in relation to the registration of an establishment is the rate applicable under the regulations.
Section 9 of the Charges Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Charges Act, prescribing matters required or permitted by the Charges Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Charges Act.
The Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Regulations 1985 (Principal Regulations) is made under the Charges Act.
Purpose
The Charges Act was recently amended by the Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Amendment Act 2014 which inserted the definition of 'exportable goods' into section 4 of the Charges Act and substituted references to 'prescribed commodity' with references to 'exportable goods'. These amendments and those made to the Collection Act by the Export Legislation Amendment Act 2014 have aligned definitions to ensure definitional consistency across the export legislation framework. This will facilitate appropriate and equitable cost recovery for the performance of certain export services by the Department of Agriculture (Department) consistent with the Australian Cost Recovery Guidelines.
The purpose of the Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Amendment (Exportable Goods) Regulation 2014 (Amendment Regulation) is to:
- impose establishment registration charges on certain horticultural products and chargeable plant products consistent with the current Horticulture Export Program Cost Recovery Impact Statement and Grain and Seed Export Program Cost Recovery Impact Statement;
* substitute references to 'prescribed commodity' with 'exportable good' consistent with the amendments made to the Charges Act;
* expand definitions of 'meat', 'meat products' and 'meat establishment' to ensure establishment registration charges can be collected from the full range of meat establishments;
* insert definitions of 'rabbit meat', 'rabbit meat product', 'ratite meat' and 'ratite meat product' to ensure definitional consistency with the Export Control (Rabbit and Ratite) Orders 1985 (Rabbit and Ratite Orders);
* insert a provision requiring the charge payable by a horticulture establishment to be the highest of all applicable charges, where the establishment falls into more than one of the three charging categories set out in Schedule 4 to the Principal Regulations; and
* rectify certain drafting and typographical errors.
The amendments described above would ensure cost recovery undertaken by the Department can be undertaken in a manner consistent with that envisaged by the current Export Meat Program Cost Recovery Impact Statement, Horticulture Export Program Cost Recovery Impact Statement and the Grain and Seed Export Program Cost Recovery Impact Statement. The cost recovery impact statements were developed in consultation with the relevant industries and are publicly available on the Department's website.
Impact and Effect
The amendments are minor and technical in nature and are intended to update the Principal Regulations to be consistent with recent amendments to the Collection Act and Charges Act and to ensure accurate reflection of the charging structure set out in the Export Meat Program Cost Recovery Impact Statement.
The amendments will also expand the scope of the establishments that will be required to pay registration charges consistent with the Horticulture Export Program Cost Recovery Impact Statement and the Grain and Seed Export Program Cost Recovery Impact Statement.
Consultation
The Department's Biosecurity Plant Division consulted grain, horticultural and plant industries on the amendments through the Grain and Plant Products Export Industry Consultative Committee (GPPEICC) and the Horticulture Export Industry Consultative Committee (HEICC).
The GPPEICC serves as the principal forum for the Department to consult with grain, fodder, nut, seed and timber industries on export inspection and certification, export market access and other relevant issues. The GPPEICC is in broad agreement with the amendments and that the technical deficiencies in the legislation should be addressed.
The GPPEICC includes representatives of:
* Australian Fodder Industry Association
* Australian Forest Products Association
* Australian Grain Exporters Association
* Australian Mungbean Association
* Australian Nut Industry Council
* Australian Oilseed Federation
* Australian Seed Federation
* Pulse Australia
* Ricegrowers' Association of Australia
* Grain Growers Ltd
* Grain Producers Australia Ltd
* Grain Trade Australia Ltd
* Eastern region bulk handlers and port operators
* Southern region bulk handlers and port operators
* Western region bulk handlers and port operators.
The HEICC is the principal forum for the department to consult with horticultural industries on export inspection and certification, and other relevant issues. The HEICC is supportive of the amendments to the legislation to remove the cost recovery inequity that currently exists.
The HEICC includes representatives of:
* Apple and Pear Australia Ltd
* Australia Cherry Growers
* Australian Horticultural Exporters' Association
* Australian Mango Industry Association
* Nursery & Garden Industry Australia
* Summerfruit Australia Ltd
* Australian Table Grape Association
* AUSVEG
* Citrus Australia Ltd
Consultation on the amendments relating to meat establishments was not undertaken with industry as the amendments are minor and technical in nature and do not result in any material change or impact as they reflect current policy intent.
The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) has advised that a Regulation Impact Statement is not required for the Amendment Regulation (OBPR reference number 16545).
The Amendment Regulation is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003. It is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared under section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011. A full statement of compatibility is set out in the Attachment.
Details/Operation
Section 1 - Name of Regulation
This section provides that the name of the Amendment Regulation is the Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Amendment (Exportable Goods) Regulation 2014.
Section 2 - Commencement
This section provides for the Amendment Regulation to commence on 1 September 2014.
Section 3 - Authority
This section provides that the Amendment Regulation is made under the Charges Act.
Section 4 - Schedule(s)
This section provides that the Principal Regulations are amended or repealed as specified in Schedule 1.
Schedule 1 - Amendments
Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Regulations 1985
Item 2 inserts definitions of 'chargeable plant products' and 'chargeable plant products establishment' into regulation 3 of the Principal Regulations.
The purpose of the amendment is to aid interpretation of the terms 'chargeable plant products' and 'chargeable plant products establishment' which is used in provisions inserted into the Principal Regulations by items 15 and 18.
'Chargeable plant products establishment' means an establishment that prepares chargeable plant products for export and 'chargeable plant products' are plants or plant products for which a phytosanitary certificate or any other official certificate is required by an importing country authority, but not including anything that is a horticultural product.
Item 3 repeals table item 3 of the definition of 'charge day' in regulation 3 of the Principal Regulations which apply to meat establishments. The definition of 'charge day' in relation to meat establishments is redundant as the term is not used in relation to those establishments.
Item 4 substitutes the definition of 'charge period' with a new definition meaning a calendar month in relation to a meat establishment or a financial year in relation to any other kind of establishment. The purpose of this amendment is to simplify and consolidate the provision.
Item 5 inserts definitions of 'fresh fruit' and 'fresh vegetables' into regulation 3 of the Principal Regulations, which provides that those terms have the same meaning as in the Export Control (Plants and Plant Products) Order 2011 (Plants Order).
The purpose of this amendment is to insert definitions of 'fresh fruit' and 'fresh vegetables' into the Principal Regulations to aid interpretation of the new definition of 'horticultural products' which is inserted by item 6.
Item 6 substitutes the definition of 'horticultural products' in regulation 3 of the Principal Regulations with a new definition of 'horticultural products' which means any of the following:
* fresh fruit;
* fresh vegetables;
* plant nursery stock;
* cut flowers; and
* plant tissue culture.
The purpose of this amendment is to expand the scope of the definition of 'horticultural products' to allow the Department to collect establishment registration charges for the full range of horticultural establishments that prepare horticultural products for export and are regulated by the Plants Order.
The updating of the references to fruit and vegetables also reflects the removal of corresponding definitions from the Collection Act by the Export Legislation Amendment Act 2014 to ensure definitional consistency across the export legislation framework.
Items 7 and 11 insert definitions of 'importing country authority' and 'phytosanitary certificate' into regulation 3 of the Principal Regulations, which provides that those terms have the same meaning as in the Plants Order.
The purpose of this amendment is to insert definitions of 'importing country authority' and 'phytosanitary certificate' into the Principal Regulations to aid interpretation of the new definition of 'chargeable plant products' which is inserted by item 2.
Items 8 and 10 amends the definitions of 'meat' and 'meat product' in regulation 3 of the Principal Regulations by removing the words 'as applied by Part 2 of those Orders' from each definition.
The purpose of this amendment is to expand the definitions of 'meat' and 'meat products' in the Principal Regulations to have the same meaning as the definitions of 'meat' and 'meat product' in the Export Control (Meat and Meat Products) Orders 2005. In those Orders, 'meat' is any part of a slaughtered animal and 'meat product' is a product containing meat.
This is consistent with the definitions of 'meat' and 'meat products' in suborder 4(1) of the Export Control (Fees) Orders 2001, which imposes fees for export services performed by the Department of Agriculture.
The effect of the amendment enables establishment registration charges set out in items 3, 5, 6 and 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 3 to the Principal Regulations, which refer to meat and meat products, to be imposed for establishments preparing rabbit meat, ratite meat, wild game meat and their associated products.
This is consistent with the Export Meat Program Cost Recovery Impact Statement which envisages that establishment registration charges set out in items 3, 5, 6 and 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 3 to the Principal Regulations be imposed for poultry meat, rabbit meat, ratite meat, wild game meat and their associated products. For completeness, the only establishment registration charges that are envisaged by the Export Meat Program Cost Recovery Impact Statement to be commodity-specific are those relating to casings, poultry and poultry meat products (specified in items 2 and 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 3 to the Principal Regulations).
Item 9 expands the definition of 'meat establishment' in regulation 3 of the Principal Regulations to include references to 'rabbit meat or rabbit meat products' and 'ratite meat or ratite meat products'.
The purpose of the amendment is to expand the definition of 'meat establishment' in the Principal Regulations to mean an establishment that is registered for any operations associated with the preparation of the following, for export:
* meat or meat products;
* wild game meat or wild game meat products;
* poultry meat or poultry meat products;
* rabbit meat or rabbit meat products; and
* ratite meat or ratite meat products.
The effect of this amendment is to enable establishment registration charges set out in Part 1 of Schedule 3 to the Principal Regulations, which refer to meat establishments, to be imposed for establishments preparing rabbit meat, ratite meat and their associated products. This is in addition to meat, wild game meat, poultry meat or poultry and their associated products, consistent with the Export Meat Program Cost Recovery Impact Statement.
Item 12 repeals the definition of 'prescribed day' from regulation 3 of the Principal Regulations. This definition is redundant as it is not used anywhere in the Principal Regulations.
Item 13 inserts definitions of 'rabbit meat', 'rabbit meat products', 'ratite meat' and 'ratite meat products' into regulation 3 of the Principal Regulations, having the same meaning as in the Rabbit and Ratite Orders.
The purpose of this amendment is to insert definitions of 'rabbit meat', 'rabbit meat products', 'ratite meat' and 'ratite meat products' into the Principal Regulations to ensure references to those terms inserted by items 9 and 15 have the same meaning as the corresponding definitions in the Rabbit and Ratite Orders which sets out the requirements for exporting rabbit and ratite meat, and their associated products.
This also reflects the removal of corresponding definitions from the Collection Act by the Export Legislation Amendment Act 2014 to ensure definitional consistency across the export legislation framework.
Item 14 substitutes note 1 to regulation 3 of the Principal Regulations with a new note which states that 'exportable goods' is defined in the Charges Act, and 'establishment', 'preparation', and 'prescribed goods' are defined in the Collection Act.
The purpose of this amendment is to update note 1 to regulation 3 to direct the reader to the definition of 'exportable good' in the Charges Act and to the terminology used in the note consistent with the amendments made to the Charges Act.
Item 15 substitutes regulation 4 of the Principal Regulations with new regulations 4 and 4A, which prescribe goods for the definition of 'exportable goods' in section 4 of the Charges Act and impose establishment registration charges under section 6 of that Act.
New regulation 4 replicates subregulation 4(1) and clearly specifies goods that are prescribed as 'exportable goods' consistent with amendments made to the Charges Act by the Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Amendment Act 2014.
The amendment also includes references to 'chargeable plant products', 'rabbit meat', 'rabbit meat products', 'ratite meat' and 'ratite meat products' to specify them exportable goods for the purposes of subsection 6(1) of the Charges Act.
The purpose of this amendment is to permit the imposition of establishment registration charges set out in the Principal Regulations in relation to chargeable plant products, rabbit meat, ratite meat and their associated products. This is consistent with the Export Meat Program Cost Recovery Impact Statement, the Horticulture Export Program Cost Recovery Impact Statement and the Grain and Seed Export Program Cost Recovery Impact Statement.
New regulation 4A replaces subregulations 4(2) and 4(3) of the Principal Regulations with a separate provision which set out the charge for an application for the registration of an establishment preparing exportable goods for export, and when the charge is imposed.
The purpose of this amendment is to redraft subregulations 4(2) and 4(3) for clarity, substitute references to 'commodity' with 'exportable goods' consistent with the amendments made to the Charges Act, and specify the establishments for which an application fee is imposed. The establishments which are specified are dairy establishments, egg establishments, fish establishments and meat establishments. There is no change to the types of establishments for which an application fee is imposed as a result of new regulation 4A.
Item 16 inserts new regulation 5A in the Principal Regulations to specify a rate of charge of $600 for an application for the registration of an establishment mentioned in regulation 4A.
The purpose of this amendment is to separate the imposition of the charge for the application made under section 6 of the Act from the rate of charge made under section 7 of the Act. This is achieved through regulation 5A and subregulation 4A(1) inserted by item 15.
The effect of this amendment is that the rate of charge for an application for registration of an establishment mentioned in regulation 4A is $600. It is important to note that the charge only applies to applications for registration of dairy establishments, egg establishments, fish establishments and meat establishments.
The charge does not apply to applications for registration of grain, horticultural products or chargeable plant products establishments (as these establishments will not be specified in regulation 4A). There is no change to the rate of charge for an application for the registration of an establishment.
Item 17 substitutes regulation 10 in the Principal Regulations with a new regulation. The purpose of this amendment is to simplify and consolidate the provisions relating to the rate of charge for the registration of grain establishments. There is no change to the rate of charge for the registration of grain establishments.
Item 18 adds new subregulation 12(4) to the Principal Regulations which provides that if a horticulture establishment is of a kind mentioned in more than one item in Schedule 4 to the Principal Regulations, the rate that applies to the establishment is the highest of the rates specified in those items.
The purpose of this amendment is to correct an oversight and allows the charge payable by horticulture establishments to be the highest of all applicable charges, where an establishment falls into more than one of the three charging categories set out in Schedule 4 to the Principal Regulations. This is consistent with the Horticulture Export Program Cost Recovery Impact Statement.
Item 19 adds new regulations 13 and 14 to the Principal Regulations.
New regulation 13 sets out transitional arrangements for horticulture products establishments affected by the amendments made by item 6.
New subregulations 13(1) and (2) provide that the charge day for a horticultural products establishment for the period 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015 is 1 September 2014, if immediately before the commencement of the Amendment Regulation the establishment was registered for operations associated with plant nursery stock, cut flowers or plant tissue stock only.
New subregulations 13(3) and (4) provide that for horticultural products establishments for operations associated with fruit or vegetables, and plant nursery stock, cut flowers or plant tissue stock in the charge period 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015, the rate that applies is the rate that would have been applied if the rate in Schedule 4 is higher than the rate that would have applied if the definition of 'horticultural products' had not been amended by item 6.
New subregulation 13(5) provides that regulation 13 expires on 1 July 2015 to reflect the nature of its limited useful life.
The purpose of new regulation 13 is to provide for transitional arrangements to ensure horticultural products establishments that become subject to the establishment registration charge as a result of the amendments made by item 6 are only charged for the period 1 September 2014 to 30 June 2015 for the 2014-15 financial year.
New regulation 13 also ensures the charge for horticultural products establishments already subject to establishment registration charges (during the charge period 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015) are not subject to a higher charge than would have been applied prior to the amendment made by item 6. For example, if prior to the amendment the rate to be applied in the charge period 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015 is $5,687, and as a result of the definition change the rate to be applied is higher than that rate (such as $8,530) the rate applied in the charge period would be $5,687.
New regulation 14 provides that the rate of charge for the registration of a chargeable plant products establishment (as defined by item 2) for a charge period is $2500.
The effect of the amendment is to allow the Department to collect establishment registration charges for chargeable plant products establishments that prepare chargeable plant products for export. 'Chargeable plant products' is defined in regulation 3 (as amended by item 2) as plants or plant products for which a phytosanitary certificate or any other official certificate is required by an importing country authority, but not including anything that is a horticultural product.
The purpose of the amendment is to impose establishment registration charges on chargeable plant products establishments that prepare chargeable plant products for export (which are regulated by the Plants Order) consistent with the Grain and Seed Export Program Cost Recovery Impact Statement, which includes chargeable plant products within its scope.
ATTACHMENT
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Amendment (Exportable Goods) Regulation 2014
This Legislative Instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Overview of the Legislative Instrument
The Legislative Instrument amends the Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Regulations 1985 to:
- impose establishment registration charges on chargeable plant products and certain additional horticultural products consistent with the current Horticulture Export Program Cost Recovery Impact Statement and Grain and Seed Export Program Cost Recovery Impact Statement;
* substitute references to 'prescribed commodity' with 'exportable good' consistent with the amendments made to the Export Inspection (Establishment Registration Charges) Act 1985;
* amend definitions of 'meat', 'meat products' and 'meat establishment' to ensure establishment registration charges can be collected from the full range of horticulture and meat establishments;
* insert definitions of 'rabbit meat', 'rabbit meat product', 'ratite meat' and 'ratite meat product' to ensure definitional consistency with the Export Control (Rabbit and Ratite) Orders 1985;
* insert a provision requiring the charge payable by a horticulture establishment to be the highest of all applicable charges, where the establishment falls into more than one of the three charging categories set out in Schedule 4; and
* rectify certain drafting and typographical errors.
Human rights implications
This Legislative Instrument does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms as the amendments are minor and technical in nature.
Conclusion
This Legislative Instrument is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.
The Hon. Barnaby Joyce MP
Minister for Agriculture
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