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FISHERIES LEVY REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1993 NO. 297

FISHERIES LEVY REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1993 NO. 297

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

STATUTORY RULES 1993 No. 297

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Resources

Fisheries Levy Act 1984

Fisheries Levy Regulations (Amendment)

Section 8 of the Fisheries Levy Act 1984 (the Levy Act) empowers the Governor-General to make regulations for the purposes of sections 5 and 6 of the Act.

Paragraphs 5(a) and (ba) of the Levy Act impose levy on the grant under subsection 9(2) or (3) of the Fisheries Act 1952 (the 1952 Act) and renewal under subsection 9(6B) of the 1952 Act, respectively, of licences granted under subsection 9(2) or (3) of the 1952 Act, being licences prescribed for the purposes of those paragraphs.

Subsection 6(1) of the Levy Act provides, so far as is relevant, that the amount of levy imposed on the grant, or renewal of grant of a licence, is the amount specified in the Regulations.

Subsection 3(1) of the Act provides that a reference in the Act to a fisheries licence means a licence under the 1952 Act or the Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984.

The 1952 Act was repealed by subsection 3(2) of the Fisheries Legislation (Consequential Provisions) Act 1991 (the Consequential Provisions Act) and regulation of Commonwealth fisheries came under the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Management Act). As a transitional arrangement, Part IVA of the 1952 Act was perpetuated under the Consequential Provisions Act for a further 2 years and will expire on 3 February 1994. There is a proposal currently before the Parliament to extend this period for a further 12 months. The result is that the fisheries (or parts of fisheries) which are the subject of agreements between the States and the Commonwealth made under Part IVA continue to be managed under the 1952 Act, instead of being managed under the Management Act, until the sunset provisions of subsection 7(3) of the Consequential Provisions Act take effect. Fisheries that continue to be managed under the 1952 Act in this manner are known as "Part IVA fisheries".

The Regulations amend the principal Regulations. The amendment implements a new levy base for Part IVA fisheries managed by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) and is proposed in parallel with amendments to the Fishing Levy Regulations in force under the Fishing Levy Act 1991 (the 1991 Levy Act), which set levy in relation to fisheries managed under the Management Act. The new levy base is structured on the basis of specific cost recovery from the users of each of AFMA's services.

If the management costs for a fishery are recovered by means of an amount of levy prescribed in a Regulation (known as a "fishery specific levy Regulation") which applies only to authorisations permitting fishing in the fishery and which is made under either the 1984 Levy Act or, if the fishery is not a Part IVA fishery, the 1991 Levy Act, then the fishery is known as a "formally managed fishery". The Regulations define an "informally managed fishery" to be, in effect, a fishery other than a formally managed fishery.

The Regulations specify a new amount of levy payable only on a prescribed licence authorising the use of a boat in an informally managed fishery. This amount of the levy is calculated on the basis of recovering a proportion of the costs of management (including surveillance and logbook programs) in informally managed fisheries. Levy that is currently collected under the principal Regulations on prescribed licences for formally managed fisheries would not be collected under the proposed Regulations. Rather, levy to recover costs of managing a formally managed fishery would be collected only under the relevant fishery specific levy Regulation.

The effect of the Regulations is to require the payment of levy in the amount of $700 for a prescribed licence authorising the use of a boat in an informally managed fishery in the year that the licence is granted and further amounts of $700 for each subsequent renewal of the licence. Under section 7 of the Levy Act, the amount of levy would continue to be due and payable on the issue of a prescribed licence and on each renewal of that licence.

The proposed Regulations would apply (with exceptions) to prescribed licences issued or renewed after the commencement of the proposed Regulations. The exceptions are designed to extend the existing exemptions in the principal Regulations, so that the amount of levy is recovered only once during the annual period of currency of the prescribed licence, where a holder of the licence also holds other licences, fishing concessions under the Management Act or both, all authorising fishing in one or more informally managed fisheries using the same boat.

Details of the Regulations, which commenced on gazettal, are set out below:

Regulation 1 provides for the amendment of the principal Regulations.

Regulation 2 amends regulation 2 (Interpretation) of the principal Regulations by inserting the definition of "informally managed fishery".

Regulation 3 amends regulation 3 (Prescribed licences) of the principal Regulations by adding an additional category of licences which are exempt from being prescribed licences.

Regulation 4 amends regulation 4 (Rate of levy in respect of the grant or renewal of a fisheries licence) of the Principal Regulations, to specify the new amount of levy payable in respect of prescribed licences.

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