Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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EXPORT INSPECTION (QUANTITY CHARGE) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1996 NO.195

STATUTORY RULES 1996 No. 195

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy

Export Inspection (Quantity Charge) Act 1985

Export Inspection (Quantity Charge) Regulations (Amendment)

Section 10 of the Export Inspection (Quantity Charge) Act 1985 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act, and, in particular, exempting a class or classes of a prescribed commodity from charge, and prescribing different rates of charge in respect of different classes of prescribed commodity.

The Export Inspection (Quantity Charge) Regulations (the Regulations) prescribe quantity charges payable by persons in whose name an export permit is issued under the Export Control Act 1982 by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS). The quantity charges are part of the mix of charges agreed by industry to recover the costs of providing export inspection services.

The purpose of the Export Inspection (Quantity Charge) Regulations (Amendment) is to prescribe revised rates of charge for the 1996/97 financial year. A new Schedule prescribing revised rates of charge for export of grain has been substituted.

As part of the savings announced by the Government in the 1996/97 Budget, Community Service Obligation (CSO) funding in the Prescribed Grain program has been reduced by $68,000. A CSO is an activity that is either undertaken in response to a Government requirement, intended to result in a community or social service, or where no identifiable end-user exists from whom the cost can be recovered.

Given the CSO reduction, an existing revenue shortfall in the program and additional costs associated with a projected increase in export activity, a fee increase is required. The program recorded a significant deficit in 1995/96 due primarily to inaccurate estimating of the level of resourcing required to service industry during a prosperous export year.

The Regulations increase the quantity charge for bulk grain from 7.4 cents to 13.5 cents per tonne and for containerised grain from $4.50 to $5.00 per tonne. The revised fees have been endorsed in principle by the grain industry representative groups.

The previous charge per tonne for the export of dairy produce has been omitted from the Schedule. Responsibility for the inspection of export dairy produce in most States has now been assumed by State Dairy authorities, with AQIS maintaining an auditory role. AQIS's costs in the Dairy program are to be recovered through a mix of establishment registration charges, documentation fees and fee for service charges.

The Export Inspection (Quantity Charge) Regulations (Amendment) amends the Regulations as follows:

Regulation 1 - Commencement

Subregulation 1.1 provides that the Regulations as amended will commence on 1 September 1996.

Regulation 2 - Amendment

Subregulation 2.1 provides that the Regulations are amended as set out in the Export Inspection (Quantity Charge) Regulations (Amendment).

Regulation 3 - Schedule (Rates of Charge)

Subregulation 3.1 replaces the existing schedule of charges. The proposed schedule omits the charge per tonne for the export of dairy produce, sets a quantity charge for bulk grain of 13.5 cents per tonne and for containerised grain of $5.00 per tonne. Other charges have been maintained at existing rates.