Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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FISHING LEVY AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2000 2000 NO. 58

STATUTORY RULES 2000 No. 58

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Fishing Levy Act 1991

Fisheries Management Act 1991

Fishing Levy Amendment Regulations 2000

Section 8 of the Fishing Levy Act 1991 (the Levy Act) empowers the Governor-General to make regulations for the purposes of section 6 of the Levy Act.

Section 5 of the Levy Act imposes levy in respect of a fishing concession. Section 6 of the Levy Act provides that the amount of levy imposed on the fishing concession is the amount prescribed by the Regulations.

Section 168 of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Management Act) empowers the Governor-General to make regulations for the purposes of the Management Act. Section 110 of the Management Act provides that the levy imposed by the Levy Act is due and payable at a time or times ascertained in accordance with the regulations made under the Management Act.

"Fishing Concession" is defined under the Levy Act and the Management Act to mean, among other things, a fishing permit.

The purpose of the Fishing Levy Amendment Regulations (the Regulations) is to provide for the refund and remission of levy in certain circumstances where a fishing concession is surrendered.

The Fishing Levy Regulations 1999 (the Principal Regulations) set the amount of levy to be collected for fisheries managed by AFMA, including the Southern Shark Fishery (Part 15). Management arrangements for the Southern Shark Fishery are currently changing from input controls to output controls with the allocation of Individual Transferable Quota for school and gummy shark. This process involves altering Offshore Constitutional Settlement (OCS) arrangements with the relevant States to encompass current Commonwealth and State operators. A voluntary buy-back scheme has been initiated to alleviate the effects of the transition to ITQs for existing Commonwealth permit holders. In terms of levy, the buy-back scheme creates the need for refund and remission provisions in the Levy Regulations.

The Regulations:

*       allow for levy to be collected only in relation to the proportion of the year that an operator held a fishing concession before surrendering it to the buy-back scheme;

*       introduce a requirement for levy to be paid at the time a permit is surrendered, such as where surrender occurs before the annual levy payment day;

*       clarify the process for refund and remission to make it clearer that levy must be paid before it is refunded; and

*       clarify how the provisions relate to operators depending on the type of concession held.

The Regulations commenced on gazettal.

Regulation 1 provides for - the Regulations to be cited as the Fishing Levy Amendment Regulations 2000 (No. 2).

Regulation 2 provides that the Regulations commence on gazettal.

Regulation 3 provides that Schedule 1 amends the Principal Regulations.

Schedule 1 Item 1 amends subregulation 15.2(1) of the Principal Regulations to change the description of the relevant type of concession.

Schedule 1 Item 2 adds another paragraph onto regulation 15.3 to confirm that levy must be paid in relation to a permit before that permit is surrendered.

Schedule 1 Item 3 substitutes a new regulation 15.4 which sets out when levy will be either refunded or remitted.