Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY RESEARCH (GIFTS, TRUSTS AND CONTRACTS) REGULATIONS 2000 2000 NO. 316

STATUTORY RULES 2000 No. 316

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Industry, Science and Resources

Science and Industry Research Act 1949

Science and Industry Research (Gifts, Trusts and Contracts) Regulations 2000

The Science and Industry Research Act 1949 (the Act) establishes the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (the Organisation).

Section 58 of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all 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.

Sections 9A and 50 of the Act provide that the Regulations may prescribe the threshold for Ministerial approval for contracts and transactions involving payment or receipt of money or other property by the Organisation.

The Science and Industry Research (Contracts) Regulations 1990 (the 1990 Regulations) prescribed that the threshold for Ministerial approval for entering into a contract under Section 50 of the Act is $1 million or more. The threshold for Section 9A, dealing with acceptance of gifts by the Organisation and the Organisation acting as a trustee, was set out in Sub-section 9A(1A) and was prescribed at $1 million or more. The Organisation sought to change the Ministerial contract approval process because an increasingly large number of contracts now fall above the threshold for Ministerial approval of $1 million, due to increasing commercial activity in the Organisation and the effects of inflation.

The new regulations vary the threshold for Ministerial approval to $5 million or more for the purposes of Sections 9A and 50 of the Act. The new regulations repealed the 1990 Regulations.

The Science and Industry Research (Gifts, Trusts and Contracts) Regulations 2000 are consistent with Ministerial accountability arrangements under the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997.

The Regulations commenced on gazettal.