EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

 

Select Legislative Instrument 2010 No. 147

 

Issued by Authority of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

 

Primary Industries (Customs) Charges Act 1999

 

Primary Industries (Customs) Charges Amendment Regulations 2010 (No. 3)

 

Section 8 of the Primary Industries (Customs) Charges Act 1999 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

Schedule 3 to the Act imposes charges in relation to the export of adult live cattle. Funds corresponding with the amounts of revenue raised under the Schedule are appropriated for Meat & Livestock Australia Ltd (MLA) for marketing and research activities, Australian Animal Health Council Ltd (trading as Animal Health Australia) to ensure that Australia’s national animal health system delivers competitive advantage for Australia’s livestock, and National Residue Survey for recovery of costs incurred in monitoring and testing residues and contaminants in food production.

The purpose of the Regulations is to allow for the charge on the export of adult live cattle to continue at $5.00 a head by removing the date of cessation of 31 December 2010 for the $1.50 component. The Regulations allow the marketing amount destined for MLA, as the marketing body, to remain at $3.66 a head for live export cattle.

The Regulations are legislative instruments for the purposes of the
Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

The $5.00 export charge was imposed for five years when the marketing component was increased from 1 January 2006 for five years by $1.50. However, following a review of the increase and an industry-wide consultation and ballot in 2009, the prescribed industry bodies responsible for cattle transaction levies, the Cattle Council of Australia and Australian Lot Feeders’ Association, approached the Australian Government to keep the levy at $5.00. The voting results from the ballot registered an aggregate industry figure of approximately
72.5 per cent in favour of keeping levy at $5.00.

 

Separate industry consultation for the export charge is not required. The export charge operates where there has been no domestic sale of cattle where the levy would be payable; such as producer exporting direct. Any change to the transaction levy automatically applies to the export charge.

The Office of Best Practice Regulation has been consulted in the preparation of these Regulations and a Regulation Impact Statement is not required (reference number ID 11044).

 

 

 

 

 

Details of the amending provisions are:

Primary Industries (Customs) Charges Amendment Regulations 2010 (No. 3)

Regulation 1 – Name of Regulations

This regulation provides for the citation of the Regulations.

Regulation 2 – Commencement

This regulation provides for Schedule 3 of the Regulations to commence on the day after registration.

Regulation 3 – Amendment of Primary Industries (Customs) Charges Regulations 2000

This regulation provides that the Primary Industries (Customs) Charges Regulations 2000 are amended as set out in Schedule 1.

Schedule 1 – Amendment

Item [1] – Schedule 3A, heading

Item [1] inserts a new heading for Schedule 3A, to reflect the provisions in Schedule 3A reverting to those in the previous Schedule 3.

Item [2] – Schedule 3A, clause 1

Item [2] repeals clause 1, to allow the levy to continue at $5.00 a head beyond the date specified in the sunset clause.

Item [3] – Schedule 3B

Item [3] repeals Schedule 3B, because this provision is not required following the removal of the sunset date in Schedule 3A, clause 1.