Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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STEVEDORING LEVY (COLLECTION) AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 1998 (NO. 1) 1998 NO. 350

STATUTORY RULES 1998 NO. 350

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Transport and Regional Services

Stevedoring Levy (Collection) Act 1998

Stevedoring Levy (Collection) Amendment Regulations 1998 (No. 1)

The Stevedoring Levy (Collection) Act 1998 (the Collection Act) assigns liability for the stevedoring levy and provides for the administrative process for collection of the levy imposed under the Stevedoring Levy (Imposition) Act 1998.

Section 21 of the Collection Act provides for the Governor-General to 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. In particular, paragraph 21(2)(c) provides that regulations may be made requiring persons to keep records about the loading and unloading of ships. Paragraph 21(2)(d) provides that regulations may be made requiring persons to provide information to such persons as are prescribed about the loading and unloading of ships.

Section 7 of the Collection Act provides that levy is payable on the loading and unloading of a container and the self-propelled loading or unloading of a vehicle to or from a ship in Australia. The levy is intended to be paid by stevedoring companies. Section 8 of the Collection Act imposes the levy on the person responsible for the loading or unloading of cargo under a contract, arrangement or understanding with the owner or charterer of the ship, or with a person acting on behalf of the owner or charterer.

Under the Stevedoring Levy (Imposition) Act 1998, the rate of levy is zero on the loading and unloading of local cargo, defined as cargo consigned from one port in Australia to another Australian port, other than cargo consigned on a through sea carriage document to or from an overseas port.

The purpose of the amendments to the Stevedoring Levy (Collection) Regulations 1998 (the Collection Regulations) is to:

*       require a stevedoring company which only loads and unloads local cargo in a month to provide a statement to that effect to the Secretary of the Department; and

*       require a stevedoring company which only loads and unloads local cargo in a month to keep records of its cargo operations.

These amendments provide the Department of Transport and Regional Services with the capacity to arrange a regular audit of a stevedoring company's statements about its local cargo operations against its records of cargo operations to ensure compliance with the stevedoring levy legislation.

Subsection 10(1) of the Collection Act requires that a person who is liable to pay levy for a month must lodge a return with the Secretary of the Department within 14 days after the end of the month.

A stevedoring company that only loads or unloads zero-rated local cargo during the month, is not liable to pay levy for the purposes of subsection 10(1) of the Act and therefore is not required to lodge a return.

A new regulation, Regulation 6A Monthly Return, is inserted into the Collection Regulations. This requires a stevedoring company that loads and unloads only local cargo during a month to give the Secretary of the Department a statement in writing to that effect no later than the 14th day of the next month.

Regulation 6 of the Collection Regulations provides for the keeping of records by stevedoring companies. Subregulation 6(1) requires that a responsible person must keep, for 6 years after the end of each year, records for each month of that year, of the number of leviable operations carried out by that responsible person.

Regulation 3 of the Collection Regulations defines a responsible person to mean a person liable, under Section 8 of the Act, to pay levy. It also defines that leviable operation means an operation of the kind described in subsection 7(1) of the Act, other than the loading or unloading of local cargo.

Under the existing regulations, a stevedoring company only loading and unloading local cargo is not carrying out any leviable operations for the purposes of regulation 6 and therefore is not required to keep records of local cargo loaded or unloaded.

The existing Regulation 3 is amended to substitute a new definition of leviable operation to delete the exclusion of the loading and unloading of local cargo. A new definition also is substituted of responsible person to mean a person who is liable to pay levy under section 8 of the Act or would be liable to pay levy if the applicable rate of levy were not zero.

There also are two housekeeping amendments. The existing regulations are premised on being administered by the Department of Workplace Relations and Small Business. The Administrative Arrangements Orders of 21 October 1998 provide for the stevedoring levy legislation to be administered by the Department of Transport and Regional Services. Regulation 4 of the Collection Regulations is amended to change the address for sending payments of levy and late payment penalty from the Department of Workplace Relations and Small Business to the Department of Transport and Regional Services.

A typographical error also is corrected in Regulation 9 of the Collection Regulations.

The Regulations commenced on the date of gazettal.