PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP (TELEVISIONS AND COMPUTERS) AMENDMENT (2019 MEASURES NO. 1) REGULATIONS 2019 (F2019L00394) EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP (TELEVISIONS AND COMPUTERS) AMENDMENT (2019 MEASURES NO. 1) REGULATIONS 2019 (F2019L00394)

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Issued by authority of the Minister for the Environment

Product Stewardship Act 2011

Product Stewardship (Televisions and Computers) Amendment (2019 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2019

The Product Stewardship Act 2011 (the Act) establishes a legislative framework for product stewardship and seeks to reduce the impacts on the environment and health and safety of humans, of products across their full lifecycles from manufacture to disposal.

Section 111 of 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.

The Product Stewardship (Televisions and Computers) Regulations 2011 (the Principal Regulations) set out the regulatory framework for the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme (the Scheme). The objectives of the Scheme include: reducing waste to landfill, especially the hazardous materials found in e-waste; increasing recovery of reusable materials in a safe, scientific and environmentally sound manner; and providing access for households and small business to an industry-funded recycling service.

Companies who manufactured or imported over a certain threshold amount of products covered by the Scheme (televisions, computers, printers and computer parts and peripherals) in the previous financial year are covered by the Scheme. The products and their corresponding product codes and conversion factors are listed in the schedules to the Principal Regulations. Different schedules to the Principal Regulations apply to products imported or manufactured during different time periods. For example, Schedule 1C applies to products imported or manufactured from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015.

Product codes are numbers that are used to identify specific product types. The product codes align with the tariff and statistical codes in the Combined Customs Tariff Nomenclature and Statistical Classification (the Working Tariff). The codes in the Working Tariff are used by the Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Bureau of Statistics to identify imported products under the Customs Tariff Act 1995. This import data is provided to the Department of the Environment and Energy (the Department) by the Department of Home Affairs and is used to determine if importers are covered by the Scheme (there are currently no manufacturers of products covered by the Scheme in Australia).

Each product code has a corresponding conversion factor, which is an estimated weighted average of products imported under that product code. Conversion factors enable the number of units imported to be converted into an estimated weight of these products. This is necessary as the Scheme operates based on weights rather than units of products.

The Product Stewardship (Televisions and Computers) Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Regulations 2018 (the 2018 Regulations) amended the Principal Regulations to, among other things, include Schedule 1E and Schedule 1F. These new schedules were intended to ensure that product codes continued to align with those in the Working Tariff (updates to which came into effect on 1 July 2018) and to update conversion factors to better reflect the actual weights of products (technological advances have resulted in products becoming increasingly light). The 2018 Regulations were intended to reduce weight variances within product codes and therefore produce fairer outcomes for those covered by the Scheme.

It was intended that Schedule 1E should apply to products imported or manufactured from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018, and that Schedule 1F should apply to products imported or manufactured from 1 July 2018. However, due to an error, incorrect dates were included in the 2018 Regulations, resulting in Schedule 1E applying from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019, and Schedule 1F applying from 1 July 2019. As a result, Schedule 1D of the Regulations applies to products imported or manufactured from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018 (rather than Schedule 1E, as intended). Schedule 1E uses the same product codes as Schedule 1D, but it includes updated conversion factors. Consequently, importers have not been subject to the updated conversion factors for products imported during this period.

Schedule 1F includes new product codes that differ from those in Schedules 1D and 1E. If the proposed Regulations were not made, Schedule 1E would apply to from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019. The product codes would no longer align with those set out in the Working Tariff, meaning the Department could no longer rely on the import data provided by the Department of Home Affairs. This data is essential to the administration of the Scheme.

The Product Stewardship (Televisions and Computers) Amendment (2019 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2019 (the Regulations) aim to correct the errors in the application of the Schedules of the Principal Regulations. The Regulations do so by repealing Schedule 1E (which is now redundant), and amending Schedule 1F so that it applies from 1 July 2018, as originally intended.

The Department held meetings with major industry stakeholders in 2018, which indicated strong support for the 2018 Regulations. Stakeholders have been notified of the errors in the 2018 Regulations and of the intention to rectify them at the earliest opportunity. No further consultation has been undertaken on the Regulations, as they are intended to give effect to the original intention of the 2018 Regulations (in so far as is possible).

Details of the Regulations are set out in the Attachment.

The Regulations are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003.

The Regulations commence on the day after they are registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

Product Stewardship (Televisions and Computers) Amendment (2019 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2019

Overview of the Legislative Instrument

The Product Stewardship (Televisions and Computers) Amendment (2019 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2019 (the Regulations) amend the Product Stewardship (Televisions and Computers) Regulations 2011 (the Principal Regulations) to:

(a) repeal Schedule 1E; and

(b) change the date of application of Schedule 1F from on or after 1 July 2019 to on or after
1 July 2018.

Human rights implications

The Regulations have been assessed against the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011. The Regulations do not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms. The amendments contained in the Regulations also do not change the operation of the Principal Regulations in a way which affects any of these rights or freedoms.

Conclusion

The Regulations are compatible with human rights as they do not raise any human rights issues.

The Hon Melissa Price MP

Minister for the Environment

ATTACHMENT

Details of the Product Stewardship (Televisions and Computers) Amendment (2019 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2019

Section 1 - Name

This section provides that the title of the Regulations is the Product Stewardship (Televisions and Computers) Amendment (2019 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2019.

Section 2 - Commencement

This section provides for the Regulations to commence on the day after they are registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.

Section 3 - Authority

This section provides that the Regulations are made under the Product Stewardship
Act 2011 (the Act).

Section 4 - Schedules

This section provides that each instrument that is specified in a Schedule to this instrument is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this instrument has effect according to its terms.

Schedule 1 - Amendments

Item 1 - Regulation 1.03 (paragraphs (f) and (g) of the definition of relevant Schedule)

Regulation 1.03 defines the term relevant Schedule to mean the Schedule to the Principal Regulations that applies to a television or computer product and is determined based on the period during which the television or computer product is manufactured or imported.

Item 1 makes amendments to the definition of relevant Schedule in regulation 1.03 that are consequential to Item 2 and Item 3. They remove the reference to Schedule 1E and update the reference to Schedule 1F to make clear that it applies to products imported or manufactured from 1 July 2018.

Item 2 - Schedule 1E

Item 2 repeals Schedule 1E to the Regulations. Schedule 1E is redundant, as Schedule 1D applies products imported or manufactured from1 July 2015 to 30 June 2018.

Item 3 - Schedule 1F (heading)

Item 3 removes the reference to 1 July 2019 from Schedule 1F and replaces it with a reference to 1 July 2018. This has the effect of ensuring the product codes and conversion factors set out in this Schedule apply to products imported or manufactured from 1 July 2018.

The tariff and statistical codes in the Combined Customs Tariff Nomenclature and Statistical Classification (the Working Tariff) were updated on 1 July 2018. This Item ensures that the product codes that apply to products imported from 1 July 2018 align with the tariff and statistical codes in the Working Tariff. This essential to the functioning of the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme (the Scheme), because the tariff and statistical codes are used by the Department of Home Affairs to identify imported products under the Customs Tariff Act 1995. This import data is then provided to the Department of the Environment and Energy (the Department) by the Department of Home Affairs and is used to determine if importers are covered by the Scheme and for compliance purposes. If the codes did not align, the Department's ability to administer the Scheme would be compromised.

This Item also expedites the introduction of conversion factors that more accurately reflect the acSttual weights of products. Advances in technology in recent years have meant that products are becoming increasingly light. The new conversion factors set out in Schedule 1F are intended to reduce weight variances within product codes and so will produce fairer outcomes for those covered by the Scheme. This Item ensures that these conversion factors apply a year sooner than they otherwise would have.

Regulation 2.02 of the Principal Regulations provides that a person is a liable party under the Scheme if they imported or manufactured a specified number of products in the previous financial year. This means that the obligation to become a member of a co-regulatory arrangement set out in subsection 18(1) of the Product Stewardship Act 2011 (the Act) only arises in the financial year after the financial year in which the products were imported or manufactured. Therefore, for television or computer products imported or manufactured during the period 1 July 2018 - 30 June 2019, the obligation to become a member of a co-regulatory arrangement will not exist under the Principal Regulations in respect those products until 1 July 2019.

This amendment does not offend subsection 12(2) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003. This is because no rights or liabilities exist under the Product Stewardship (Televisions and Computers) Regulations 2011 (the Principal Regulations) in respect of products imported or manufactured from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019 until 1 July 2019.