Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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AUSTRALIAN MEAT AND LIVE-STOCK INDUSTRY AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2003 (NO. 2) 2003 NO. 274

Paragraph 28 (3) (b) of the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry Act 1997 (the Act) provides that the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry may vary a meat export quota on application by the holder and on payment of the prescribed fee.

Section 74 of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted to be prescribed by the Act, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

The purpose of these regulations is to amend the prescribed fee that must be paid by a quota holder before the Secretary may vary the quota of that quota holder.

The European Commission and the United States of America impose quotas to control the access of meat imported from Australia at concessional tariff rates. The Quota Administration and Statistics Unit manages the allocation, monitoring and reporting of Australia's country-specific meat export quotas. Interim quotas are usually granted to eligible exporters prior to each quota year to enable exporters to consign shipments to be available at their destination, if required, by the commencement of the new quota year. Interim quotas are based on an amount estimated to be less than each quota holder will finally be entitled. These grants of quota are made under the Australian Meat and Live-stock (Quotas) Act 1990.

Final allocations are made by varying the quota holders' interim allocations and are released once all the records necessary are available to AFFA's QA Unit. Variations to quotas must be made under the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry Act 1997 and the fees applied for varying the quotas must be prescribed under this Act.

The fee, as agreed with the red meat industry, recovers the costs associated with the administration of the quotas on a fee for service basis. A review of these costs has resulted in a reduction to the proposed fee to be recovered from licensees.

Regulation 1 provides for the citation of the regulations.

Regulation 2 provides that the regulations will commence on gazettal.

Regulation 3 provides that Schedule 1 amends the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry Regulations 2000.

Schedule 1 amends the fee rate, which will be 0.05 cents kilogram for each additional kilogram of quota entitlement allocated to the licensee in the quota year.

These regulations commenced on gazettal.