Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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CUSTOMS (PROHIBITED EXPORTS) AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 1999 (NO. 1) 1999 NO. 9

STATUTORY RULES 1999 NO. 9

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Justice and Customs

Custom Act 1901

Customs (Prohibited Exports) Amendment Regulations 1999 (No. 1)

Section 112 of the Customs Act 1901 ("the Act") provides in part that:

"(1)       The Governor-General may, by regulation, prohibit the exportation of goods from Australia.

(2)       The power conferred by the last preceding subsection may be exercised - (c)

by prohibiting the exportation of goods unless specified conditions or

restrictions are complied with.

(2A)       Without limiting the generality of paragraph (2)(c), the regulations -- (a) may provide that the exportation of the goods is prohibited unless a licence, permission, consent or approval to export the goods or a class of goods in which the goods are included has been granted as prescribed by the regulations; and..."

The Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations ("the Regulations") control the exportation of the goods specified in the various regulations (or identified in a list made under section 112 of the Act) or the Schedules to the Regulations. by prohibiting exportation absolutely, or making exportation subject to the permission of a Minister or an authorised person.

Purpose

These Regulations introduced a new regulation to the Regulations to control the exportation of radioactive wastes to the Pacific Island Developing ("PID") Countries.

In addition, the Regulations have been renamed the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations 1958 in accordance with the new drafting style (item 1 of Schedule 1 of the Regulations).

Background

Australia signed the Convention to Ban the Importation into Forum Countries of Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes and to Control the Transboundary Movement and ,Management of Hazardous Wastes within the South Pacific Region (known as the Waigani Convention) ("the Convention") on 16 September 1995 and is obliged under the terms of the Convention to, inter alia, ban the exportation of radioactive wastes to the PID Countries.

The PID Countries are:

* Cook Islands

* Fiji

* Kiribati

* Marshall Islands, Republic of

* Micronesia, Federated States of

* Nauru

* Niue

* Palau, Republic of

* Papua, New Guinea

* Solomon Islands

* Tonga

* Tuvalu

* Vanuatu

* Western Samoa

Australia ratified the Convention on 17 August 1998. Amendments to the Regulations introduced the controls on the exportation of radioactive wastes.

Commencement

These Regulations commenced on gazettal. In accordance with Australian treatymaking practice, Australian domestic law needed to be brought into line with the international obligation contained in the Convention. As the Convention has been ratified by Australia, the Regulations have been made in order to achieve this. The prohibition on exports under regulation 13G will not come into effect until 1 January 2000. The 1 January 2000 date is the same as for the proposed Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) (Waigani Convention) Regulations 1999. The reason for the 1 January 2000 date is that the Hazardous Waste Regulations, due to the requirements of the Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989, cannot commence until the Convention comes into force and it is uncertain when this will occur (Article 24 of the Convention provides that it enters into force thirty days after the date of deposit of the tenth instrument of ratification). Therefore 1 January 2000 is only a nominal date which will almost certainly need to be amended by further regulations when the Convention enters into force.

The Regulations are explained in greater detail in the Attachment.

ATTACHMENT

Regulation 1 - Name of regulations

Regulation 1 provides that the regulations are named the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Amendment Regulations 1999 (No. 1).

Regulation 2 - Commencement

Regulation 2 provides that the regulations commenced on gazettal.

Regulation 3 - Amendment of Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations

Regulation 3 provides that the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations have been amended as set out in Schedule 1 to the regulations.

Item 1 of Schedule 1 - Regulation 1

Item 1 omits and substitutes regulation 1 of the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations. New regulation 1 renames the Regulations as the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations 1958. This is in accordance with the new drafting style of Statutory Rules under which all regulations are being re-named to include the year that the Regulations were originally made.

Item 2 of Schedule 1 - After regulation 13F

Item 2 of Schedule 1 insertes regulation 13G in the Regulations as follows:

New subregulation 13G(1) prohibits the exportation of radioactive waste to PID Countries on and after 1 January 2000, unless the written permission of the Minister for Industry, Science and Resources or an authorised person is produced to a Collector at or before the time of exportation.

New subregulation 13G(2) requires the authorised person or the Minister for Industry, Science and Resources, when deciding whether to give permission under proposed subregulation 13G(1), to take into account Australia's international obligations.

New subregulation 13G(3) defines the expressions "authorised person". "Minister" and radioactive waste" and sets out the names of the Pacific Island Developing Countries to which the exportation of radioactive waste is prohibited.

Items 3 to 5 of Schedule 1 - Paragraphs 13H(1)(a), 13H(4)(c) and 13H(4)(c)

Items 3 to 5 of Schedule 1 effected technical amendments to regulation 13H consequential to the insertion of the permission granting powers in regulation 13G and to the new Administrative Arrangement Orders that came into effect on 21 October 1998.