Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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CUSTOMS REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1998 NO. 212

STATUTORY RULES 1998 NO. 212

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Customs and Consumer Affairs

Customs Act 1901

Customs Regulations (Amendment)

Section 270 of the Customs Act 1901 ("the Act") 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.

Section 85 of the Act provides in part that such fees as are prescribed are payable in respect of warehouse licences and subsection 85(2) provides that the Regulations may prescribe annual fees. Regulation 50 of the Customs Regulations ("the Regulations") prescribes these fees.

The purpose of these regulations is to set the warehouse licence fees for the 1998-1999 financial year. These fees are charged in order to recover the costs of administering the warehouse licensing system. The fees are reviewed annually.

Regulation 3 prescribes the warehouse licence fees for the 1998-1999 financial year. These fees have been reduced, in accordance with the recommendation of an internal review of the warehouse licensing system conducted by the Australian Customs Service in April 1998. A cost recovery methodology was applied in examining the fees and a simplified flat fee structure has been prescribed, with no additional fees attributing to special warehouse categories and no reductions for computerised recording and accounting systems.

Details of the amendments are set out in the Attachment.

The Regulations commenced on 1 July 1998.

ATTACHMENT

Regulation 1 - Commencement

Subregulation 1. 1 provides that the Regulations are to commence on 1 July 1998. The start of the financial year and the warehouse licence year.

Regulation 2 - Amendment

Subregulation 2.1 provides that the Customs Regulations ("the Regulations") are amended as set out in the Regulations.

Regulation 3 - Regulation 50 (Fees in respect of warehouse licences)

Subregulation 3.1 amends regulation 50 by omitting subregulations 50(2) to 50(2D) inclusive and substituting new subregulations 50(2), (2A) and (2B).

New subregulation 50(2) prescribes an initial annual fee of $7000, which is payable on the granting of a warehouse licence that comes into effect on 1 July.

New subregulation 50(2A) prescribes the fee for the grant of a warehouse licence where the initial licence is granted on a day other than 1 July in a given year. This fee is to be worked out using the formula set out in subregulation 50(2A), which is designed so that the initial licence fee is calculated on a pro-rata basis.

New subregulation 50(2B) prescribes a fee of $4000 for each annual renewal of a warehouse licence.

The additional fees attributing to special warehouse categories and reductions for computerised recording and accounting systems have been omitted from the Regulations.

The overall effect of these amendments is to reduce the level of fees payable in respect of warehouse licences.