Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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EXCISE REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1995 NO. 100

STATUTORY RULES 1995 No. 100

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Small Business, Customs and Construction

Excise Act 1901

Excise Regulations (Amendment)

Section 164 of the Excise 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.

The regulations amend the Excise Regulations (the Regulations) to amend the reporting and record keeping requirements with respect to the sale of goods in outwards, off-airport duty free shops.

Section 61D of the Act sets out the provisions governing the sale of goods in an outwards duty free shop. Subsection 61D(5) of the Act provides that a permission granted to a duty free shop proprietor to operate a duty free shop may be subject to prescribed conditions. Subsection 61D(12) states that where a proprietor of an outwards duty free shop does not produce proof that the goods sold in the duty free shop have been exported, the goods shall be deemed to have been entered and delivered for home consumption by the proprietor.

Subregulation 79(9) of the Regulations prescribes the manner and timing of the proof required under subsection 61D(12) in relation to outwards off-airport duty free shops. The proprietor must provide to the Collector an electronic record of invoice numbers of copy invoices removed from the duty free goods as they exported by a traveller, This record must also be provided within 2 working days or 4 working days, depending place of departure, within the day of departure of the traveller. Subregulation 79(10) of the Regulations also requires the proprietor to produce at the close of business on the last day of each working week a fist of invoice numbers included in the electronic records created under subregulation 79(9).

Conditions have been prescribed for the purposes of subsection 61D(5) in subregulation 79(7) of the Regulations. One condition set out in paragraph 79(7)(n) of the Regulations requires the proprietor of an outwards of-airport duty free shop to lodge setting out invoice numbers of invoices prepared for goods sold in a duty free shop that have not been removed from the goods upon their exportation. This return forms the basis of the calculation of the duty liability of the proprietor as the proprietor is deemed to be the owner of such goods under subsection 61D(I2) of the Act because of the failure to produce the proof of export of the goods required under subregulation 79(9).

The proprietor may also be liable for duty in respect of duty free goods where the invoice has been removed upon the exportation of the goods but the electronic record has not been provided in accordance with subregulation 79(9), The return required to be lodged under the present paragraph 79(7)(n), though, does not require the inclusion of, and payment of an amount equal to the duty in respect of, invoices that have been removed but have not been provided in an electronic record in accordance with subregulation 79(9).

Subregulation 2.1 therefore omits; and substitutes a new paragraph 79(7)(n) of the Regulations and introduces the requirement that a duty free shop proprietor include in a return the invoice numbers of invoices that have been removed upon the exportation of duty free goods but in respect of which an electronic record has not been provided in accordance with subregulation 79(9). The amount that is payable by the proprietor will then also include the amount equal to the duty in respect of goods to which those invoices relate.

Subregulation 2.2 effects a minor grammatical correction to subregulation 79(9) of the Regulations.

With respect to the time limits specified in subregulations 79(9) and (10), representations from the Australian Duty Free Operators Association indicate that the time limits specified in these subregulations are too short and that duty free shop proprietors are experiencing difficulties in meeting them in a consistent manner. If the electronic record under subregulation 79(9) is not provided within the prescribed time limit, the proprietor will be liable for duty in respect of the goods even though the goods have actually been exported.

The time limits in subregulations 79(9) and (10) have been extended.

Subregulation 2.3 omits and substitutes a new paragraph 79(9)(b) into the Regulations to extend the time within which the proprietor must provide the proof of export required under paragraph 79(9)(a) to 10 working days of the duty free shop after the departure of the traveller. The previous distinction as to time, that was dependent on the place of departure of the traveller, has been eliminated.

Subregulation 2.4 omits and substitutes a new subregulation 79(10) to extend the time within which the proprietor is required to produce a fist of invoice numbers included in the electronic records created under subregulation 79(9) to within 21 working days after the end of a month of the duty free shop.

The proposed regulations commenced on gazettal.