Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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EXPORT CONTROL (HARDWOOD WOOD CHIPS) AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 1999 (NO. 2) 1999 NO. 282

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

STATUTORY RULES 1999 No. 282

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Forestry and Conservation

Export Control Act 1982

Export Control (Hardwood Wood Chips) Amendment Regulations 1999 (No. 2)

The Export Control Act 1982 (the Act) commenced in 1982 in order to provide for the control of the export of certain prescribed goods.

Section 25 of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purpose of the Act. The Export Control (Unprocessed Wood) Regulations, the Export Control (Hardwood Wood Chips) Regulations 1996 (the '1996 Regulations'), and the Export Control (Regional Forest Agreements) Regulations (the 'RFA Regulations') provide necessary support to the Act by prescribing export licensing arrangements for unprocessed wood and woodchips.

Schedule 1 to the 1996 Regulations (the 'Schedule') originally described eleven forest regions to which both the 1996 Regulations and the RFA Regulations refer. Under the 1996 Regulations, transitional and other export licences are restricted to a specified region or regions, as described in the Schedule. Under the RFA Regulations, export licensing controls on unprocessed wood and woodchips derived from native forests for a specified region, as described in the Schedule, are effectively removed while ever that region is covered by an Regional Forest Agreement ('RFA').

The RFA process is a dynamic one and, over time, government parties have found that certain of the original regional boundaries described in the Schedule were not appropriate for some of the regions. The 1996 Regulations were amended twice in 1998 and once thus far in 1999 to, in large part, make minor amendments to the boundary descriptions for the Central Highlands, Gippsland and North East regions in Victoria, as well as including new regions - the Eden, Lower North East and Upper North East Regions in New South Wales, the South East Queensland Region in Queensland and the South West Forest Region in Western Australia.

The Export Control (Hardwood Wood Chips) Amendment Regulations 1999 No. 2 (the 'Amendment Regulations') adds to the Schedule descriptions of another new region - the Southern Region in New South Wales - and amends the boundary of the West Region in Victoria, all of which have been agreed between the relevant government parties.

The Southern Region in New South Wales comprises a large part of the South and Tumut Regions, which are currently described in the Schedule. Reference to the South and Tumut Regions have not been omitted from the Schedule to ensure that any transitional licence issued under the 1996 Regulations for those regions remains operative until 31 December 1999, if required.

The boundary of the West Region in Victoria has been amended from that currently in the Schedule to accurately reflect the boundary within which the comprehensive regional assessment has been made during the RFA process. As this is a relatively minor amendment that has no direct impact on sourcing arrangements for any licence issued under the 1996 Regulations, the previous description for the Eden Region has been simply replaced by the new description.

There is also a further amendment proposed to correct an omission in relation to statements to accompany notification of certain decisions under Regulation 35 of the 1996 Regulations.

Details of the 1999 Amendment Regulations are as follows:

Regulation 1 provides that the name of these Regulations is the Export Control (Hardwood Wood Chips) Amendment Regulations 1999 (No. 2).

Regulation 2 provides that these Regulations commence on gazettal.

Regulation 3 provides that the 1996 Regulations are amended as set out in Schedule 1 of these Regulations.

Schedule 1, Item [1] amends Subregulation 35 (1) to provide that where a transitional licence holder is dissatisfied with a decision made by the Minister (or the Minister's delegate) under Regulation 12A to reduce the authorised export mass for that transitional licence, the licence holder must be advised in the notice of decision that reconsideration of the decision may be sought by the licence holder from the Minister (if the decision was made by the delegate) or the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (if the decision was made by the Minister). This amendment corrects an oversight that occurred when Regulation 12A was first made in 1998. [Regulation 12A requires the Minister (or the Minister's delegate) to decide whether, or to what extent, to reduce the authorised export mass for a transitional licence if a Regional Forest Agreement comes into force for a region that is, or includes, part of the region for which the transitional licence was previously issued.]

Schedule 1, Items [2], [3], [4] and [5] amend Schedule 1, item 2, to the 1996 Regulations to reflect the changed description for the West Region of Victoria and to incorporate minor amendments as a consequence of this changed description.

Schedule 1, Items [6] and [7] amend Schedule 1, item 3, to the 1996 Regulations to incorporate a new Southern Region of New South Wales and to incorporate a minor amendment as a consequence of the insertion of this new region.


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