CUSTOMS REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1993 NO. 339

CUSTOMS REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1993 NO. 339

STATUTORY RULES 1993 No. 339

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Science and Small Business

Customs Act 1901

Customs Regulations (Amendment)

Section 270 of the Customs 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 ... for giving effect to this Act or for the conduct of any business relating to Customs, ..."

The proposed Regulations amend the Customs Regulations (the Regulations) to allow scarves with sides of 60 centimetres or less and spiked footware to be imported duty-free via a Tariff Concession Order (TCO),

Part XVA of the Act provides for the duty-free entry of certain goods via a TCO where it is established that the duty free entry of the goods is not likely to have a significant adverse effect on the market for Australian made substitutable goods. Section 269SJ of the Act provides that the Comptroller must not make a TCO in respect of goods declared by the regulations to be goods. to which a TCO should not extend.

Schedule 2 to the Regulations lists goods in respect of which TCOs must not be made under Part XVA of the Act. It does this by specifying the tariff heading or subheading of such goods in Column 2 of Schedule 2. Column 3 of Schedule 2 provides the facility to fist goods within the restricted tariff class for which a TCO may be made.

On 5 August 1993, the Government approved the removal of scarves having sides of 60 centimetres or less from the class of goods in respect of which a TCO cannot be made. Under the Customs Tariff Act 1987, scarves having sides which do not exceed 60 centimetres are classified under heading 6213. Heading 6213 is included in Item 27 in column 2 of Schedule 2 therefore a TCO cannot be made in respect of goods classified to this heading. Column 3 of Item 27, which sets out those goods to which the restriction does not apply refers only to "handkerchiefs".

Both handkerchiefs and scarves with sides not exceeding 60 centimetres are classified under heading 6213 and it is now the intention that a TCO may be made in respect of both these goods. Therefore it is proposed that heading 6213 be removed from Item 27 in Column 2 of Schedule 2 thereby removing the restriction on the making of a TCO in respect of goods classified to this heading. This will no longer require the separate reference to "handkerchiefs" in Column 3 of Item 27. Therefore it is proposed that this reference be removed.

Proposed subregulation 3.1 amends Schedule 2 by substituting "to 6215" with ", 6214 and 6215" in Item 27 in Column 2 thereby removing the reference to 6213 and the restriction that a TCO cannot be made in respect of goods classified to that heading.

Proposed subregulation 3.2 amends Schedule 2 by omitting the reference to "handkerchiefs" in Item 27 in Column 3 as a consequence of the amendment proposed by subregulation 3.1.

On 13 August 1993, the Government approved the removal of spiked footware from the class of goods in respect of which a TCO cannot be made. The spiked footware is classified to one of the headings included in Item 29 in Column 2 of Schedule 2 - a TCO cannot be made in respect of goods classified under these headings. It is proposed to insert into Column 3 of Item 29 a reference to the spiked footware so that the restriction will not apply to these goods.

Proposed subregulation 3.3 amends Schedule 2 by adding at the end of Column 3 of Item 29 the reference to "Footwear which is not suitable for normal casual wear and which is designed for a sporting activity and which has spikes, sprigs or stops that are moulded or attached to the sole."

Proposed subregulation 2.1 provides that subregulations 3.1 and 3.2 are taken to have commenced on 5 August 1993. Proposed subregulation 2.2 provides that subregulation 3.3 is taken to have commenced on 13 August 1993. This retrospectivity does not contravene subsection 48(2) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 as it confers a benefit on importers of the subject goods (by making the goods retrospectively eligible for duty free entry under a Tariff Concession Order) and does not impose any liabilities on any person.