Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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EXCISE REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1994 NO. 316

STATUTORY RULES 1994 No. 316

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Small Business, Customs and Construction

Excise Act 1901

Excise Regulations (Amendment)

Section 164 of the Excise Act 1901 (the Act) provides in part that:

"(1) The Governor-General may make regulations not inconsistent with this Act prescribing all matters which by this Act are required or permitted to be prescribed or as may be necessary or convenient to be prescribed for giving effect to this Act or for the conduct of any business relating to the Excise, ..."

These Regulations amend Excise Regulations (the Regulations) to prescribe that the amount of any rebate of duty paid on diesel fuel used in the manufacture of explosives is to be based on the duty applicable at the time the diesel fuel was purchased by the applicant for rebate.

Subsection 78(1) of the Act provides that refunds, rebates and remissions of duty may be made in such circumstances and subject to such conditions and restrictions as are prescribed by the Regulations. Subsection 78(2) of the Act provides that the Regulations may prescribe the amount, or the means of determining the amount, of any refund, rebate or remission of duty that may be made.

Paragraph 50(1)(x) of the Regulations provides for rebates of excise duty paid on diesel fuel for use in the manufacture of explosives. The Regulations do not presently provide a specific means of calculating this amount and therefore are administered on the basis that where an amount is not prescribed, the amount of rebate should be the amount of duty paid.

In administering the Regulations it has become evident that difficulties arise in trying to determine the amount of duty paid. This is because the applicant for rebate is usually not the person who paid the duty and therefore there is no easily identified record of the amount of duty paid on the diesel fuel that is the subject of the application.

To overcome these difficulties, these Regulations amend the Regulations to provide that the rebate should be paid at the rate of duty in force on the date of purchase of the diesel fuel by the applicant for the rebate.

Regulation 2.1 inserts a new regulation 52F into the Regulations which provides that the amount of any rebate of duty paid on diesel fuel in the circumstance referred to in paragraph 50(1)(x) is to be based on the rate of duty applicable to that diesel fuel at the time it was purchased by the applicant for rebate.

The Regulations commence on gazettal.