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13062 Cat. No. 97 2653 5 ISBN 0644 516844
1998
THE
PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF
AUSTRALIA
HOUSE
OF
REPRESENTATIVES
NATIONAL
RESIDUE SURVEY (CUSTOMS) LEVY BILL
1998
EXPLANATORY
MEMORANDUM
(Circulated
by authority of
the Minister for Primary
Industries and
Energy, the Hon John Anderson
MP)
NATIONAL RESIDUE SURVEY LEVY
(CUSTOMS) BILL 1998
OUTLINE
This
Bill is part of a package of three Bills designed to correct technical faults in
the National Residue Survey legislation and to consolidate 22 levy imposition
Acts into two Acts. The package is designed to correct the apparent dependence
of liability to pay NRS levies on liability to pay other primary industry
levies.
The Bill imposes levies that are
duties of customs on five commodity groups to replace the relevant imposition
Acts repealed by the National Residue Survey Administration Amendment Bill
1998.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
STATEMENT
The proposed amendments
will have no financial implications for the Commonwealth.
NOTES ON
CLAUSES
Clause 1: Short
title
This clause provides for the short
title of the Act to be the National Residue Survey (Customs) Levy Act
1998.
Clause
2: Commencement
This clause provides
that the Act comes into effect on its proclamation date or, if proclamation has
not occurred within six months of Royal Assent, the day after that six
months.
Clause 3: Simplified
outline
This clause provides a
simplified outline of the contents of the Bill indicating that it imposes levies
that are duties of customs and provides for specification of the maximum and
operative rates of levies, the person liable to pay levies and exemptions from
levy.
Clause
4: Definitions
This clause provides for
terms in this Act to have the same meaning as in the Primary Industries
Levies and Charges Collection Act 1991 unless specifically stated
otherwise.
Clause 5: Act to bind
Crown
This clause provides for all
Australian States, the ACT, Northern Territory and Norfolk Island to be bound by
the legislation, but for the Commonwealth not to be bound by the legislation as
the Commonwealth cannot tax
itself.
Clause 6: Duties of
customs
This clause provides that the
levies imposed are duties of customs within the meaning of section 55 of the
Constitution.
Clause 7: Imposition of
levy
This clause provides that the
levies are imposed by the Schedules to the
Act.
Clause
8: Regulations
This clause provides for
the Governor-General to make regulations for the purposes of this
Act.
Schedule
1¾Aquatic
animal export
Clause
1: Definitions
This clause defines
aquatic animal, and aquatic animal product for the
purposes of this Act.
Clause
2: Imposition of levy
This clause
imposes a National Residue Survey levy on the export of aquatic animals or
aquatic animal products except in cases where a regulation is made providing
that a levy is not imposed.
Clause
3: Rate of levy
This clause includes a
table setting out the operative rate of levy and the maximum rate of levy that
can be prescribed for particular classes of aquatic animals and aquatic animal
products; and provides for the amendment of operative rates by regulation. It
also provides for differing rates for different products to be set by
regulations.
Allowing the operative rate to
be amended by regulation avoids imposing an unreasonable burden on the
Parliament as the operative rate is open to frequent changes. In addition,
delays in amending legislation can hamper industry programs. Any changes to
operative or maximum rates will only be made on the agreement of the
representative industry organisation following full consultation with
industry.
Clause 4: Who pays the
levy
This clause provides that the
producer of the aquatic animals or aquatic animal products is liable to pay the
levy. In accordance with the relevant definition of producer in the Collection
Act the producer is the
exporter.
Schedule
2¾Cattle
export
Clause
1: Definitions
This clause defines
cattle and dairy cattle as having the same meanings
as in the Cattle (Producers) Export Charges Act
1997.
Clause 2: Imposition of
levy
This clause imposes a levy on the
export of non-dairy cattle unless levy has already been paid under the
National Residue Survey (Excise) Act 1998 and defines the circumstances
in which levy liability is
incurred.
Clause 3: Rate of
levy
This clause imposes an operative
rate of National Residue Survey levy on cattle at
32 cents per head and bobby calves at 26 cents
per head; sets the maximum rate that can be prescribed at 35 cents per head;
and provides for the amendment of operative rates by regulation. It also
provides that a cow with a calf at foot is considered a single head of cattle
and defines chargeable bobby calf and
intermediary.
Allowing the
operative rate to be amended by regulation avoids imposing an unreasonable
burden on the Parliament as the operative rate is open to frequent changes. In
addition, delays in amending legislation can hamper industry programs. Any
changes to operative or maximum rates will only be made on the agreement of the
representative industry organisation following full consultation with
industry.
Clause 4: Who pays the
levy
This clause provides that the
producer of the cattle is liable to pay the levy. In accordance with the
relevant definition of producer in the Collection Act the producer is the person
who owned the cattle immediately before the export in respect of which the
charge is imposed.
Schedule
3¾Honey
export
Clause
1: Definitions
This clause defines
honey for the purposes of this
Act.
Clause 2: Imposition of
levy
This clause imposes National
Residue Survey Levy on honey exported from Australia and identifies
circumstances in which levy is not payable. It also provides for regulations to
exempt a specified class of honey from the
levy.
Clause 3: Rate of
levy
This clause imposes an operative
rate of National Residue Survey levy on honey of 0.25 cents per kilogram; sets
the maximum rate that can be prescribed at 0.3 cents per kilogram; and provides
for the amendment of operative rates by
regulation.
Allowing the operative rate to
be amended by regulation avoids imposing an unreasonable burden on the
Parliament as the operative rate is open to frequent changes. In addition,
delays in amending legislation can hamper industry programs. Any changes to
operative or maximum rates will only be made on the agreement of the
representative industry organisation following full consultation with
industry.
Clause 4: Who pays the
levy
This clause provides that the
producer of the honey is liable to pay the levy. In accordance with the
relevant definition of producer in the Collection Act the producer is the
exporter.
Schedule
4¾Horticultural
products export
Clause
1: Definitions
This clause defines
apples, box, eligible horticultural products, horticultural products,
leviable horticultural products, onion, and pears for the
purposes of this
Act.
Clause 2: Imposition
of levy
This clause imposes National
Residue Survey levy on apples, pears, onions and other horticultural products
prescribed in the regulations, unless the producer has already paid levy on
these products under the National Residue Survey (Excise) Act 1998.
Regulations may exempt horticultural products exported by a specified class
of persons or specified sub-classes or classes of
products.
Clause 3: Rate of
levy¾onions
This
clause imposes a National Residue Survey levy of 40 cents per tonne on onions;
sets the maximum rate that can be prescribed at $5.00 per tonne; and provides
for the amendment of operative rates by
regulation.
Allowing the operative rate to
be amended by regulation avoids imposing an unreasonable burden on the
Parliament as the operative rate is open to frequent changes. In addition,
delays in amending legislation can hamper industry programs. Any changes to
operative or maximum rates will only be made on the agreement of the
representative industry organisation following full consultation with
industry.
Clause 4: Rate of
levy¾apples and
pears
This clause imposes a National
Residue Survey levy of 1 cent per box on apples and pears; sets the maximum
rate that can be prescribed at 1.1 cents per box; and provides for the
amendment of operative rates by
regulation.
Allowing the operative rate to
be amended by regulation avoids imposing an unreasonable burden on the
Parliament as the operative rate is open to frequent changes. In addition,
delays in amending legislation can hamper industry programs. Any changes to
operative or maximum rates will only be made on the agreement of the
representative industry organisation following full consultation with
industry.
Clause 5: Rate of
levy¾eligible horticultural
products
This clause provides for the
operative rate of levy on eligible horticultural products at a rate set by
regulation; and sets the maximum rate that can be prescribed based on a formula
relating to the average of gross value of production over a number of years.
The clause also provides for differing rates for different classes of products
to be set by regulation.
Allowing the
operative rate to be set by regulation will allow additional horticultural
products to be introduced into the residue monitoring system at short notice on
industry request. However, any levy on additional products will be capped by
the maximum rate formula set in this
Act.
Allowing the operative rate to be
amended by regulation avoids imposing an unreasonable burden on the Parliament
as the operative rate is open to frequent changes. In addition, delays in
amending legislation can hamper industry programs. Any changes to operative or
maximum rates will only be made on the agreement of the representative industry
organisation following full consultation with
industry.
Clause 6: Who pays the
levy
This clause provides that the
producer of the products is liable to pay the levy. In accordance with the
relevant definition of producer in the Collection Act the producer is the
exporter.
Clause
7: Regulations
This clause identifies
the ways in which leviable horticultural products may be described in the
regulations.
Schedule
5¾Sheep,
lambs and goats export
Clause
1: Definitions
This clause defines
lamb and sheep as having the same meanings as in the
Live-stock (Producers) Export Charges Act
1997.
Clause 2: Imposition of
levy
This clause imposes a levy on the
export of sheep, lambs or goats unless levy has already been paid under the
National Residue Survey (Excise) Act 1998 and defines the circumstances
in which levy liability is
incurred.
Clause 3: Rate of
levy
This clause sets an operative levy
rate of 2 cents per head for the export of sheep and lambs and 3 cents per head
for goats; sets the maximum rate at which levy can be prescribed as 8 cents per
head for sheep, lambs and goats; and provides for the amendment of operative
rates by regulation.
Allowing the operative
rate to be amended by regulation avoids imposing an unreasonable burden on the
Parliament as the operative rate is open to frequent changes. In addition,
delays in amending legislation can hamper industry programs. Any changes to
operative or maximum rates will only be made on the agreement of the
representative industry organisation following full consultation with
industry.
Clause 4: Who pays the
levy
This clause provides that the
producer of the sheep, lambs or goats is liable to pay the levy. In accordance
with the relevant definition of producer in the Collection Act the producer is
the person who owned the livestock immediately before the export in
respect of which the charge is imposed.