Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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CUSTOMS REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1996 NO. 134

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

STATUTORY RULES 1996 No. 134

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Small Business and Consumer Affairs

Customs Act 1901

Customs Regulations (Amendment)

Section 270 of the Customs Act 1901 provides in part that the Governor-General may make regulations not inconsistent with the Act prescribing all matters which by the Act are required or permitted to be prescribed for giving effect to the Act.

The amendments to the Customs Regulations (the Regulations) are a technical corollary to the new Customs Tariff Act 1995 (Act No. 147 of 1995), which passed the Parliament in the 1995 Spring Sittings.

The Customs Tariff Act 1995 (the 1995 Tariff Act), which will commence on 1 July 1996, implements over 500 tariff classification changes to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System of the World Customs Organization. The passage of the Act last year provided an effective 6 months lead time before its commencement and was necessary to enable the importing community to make the necessary computer and documentary changes resulting from the 1995 Tariff Act. It has also enabled the checking and revalidation of 120,000 tariff advices on the tariff classification of goods

The Customs Tariff Act 1987 (the 1987 Tariff Act) will be repealed by the 1995 Tariff Act with effect from 1 July 1996. The Customs Tariff (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 1996 which passed the Parliament on 31 May 1996, will update references to the short title of the 1987 Tariff Act in a number of other Acts with effect from 1 July 1996.

The Regulations also contain references to the short title of the 1987 Tariff Act and these references have been updated with references to the 1995 Tariff Act (subregulations 3.5, 3.6, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1 and 6.1 refer).

All references in the Regulations to "Customs Tariff Reference Numbers" have been replaced with "subheadings". This is a change in terminology only and will ensure that the Regulations are consistent with the 1995 Tariff Act (subregulations 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, and 3.6 refer).

Further, due to a reclassification of several subheadings in the 1995 Tariff Act, the Regulations have been amended to reflect those new subheadings (subregulations 3.1, 3.3, 3.4, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4 and 7.5 refer).

The Regulations commenced on 1 July 1996.


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