EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

 

Select Legislative Instrument 2006 No. 138

 

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Justice and Customs

 

Crimes (Overseas) Act 1964

 

Crimes (Overseas) (Declared Foreign Countries) Amendment Regulations 2006 (No. 1)

 

Section 9 of the Crimes (Overseas) Act 1964 (the Act) provides that the Governor‑General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

 

The Act extends the criminal law of the Jervis Bay Territory extraterritorially to various groups of Australians working in foreign countries.  The extension of the criminal law of the Jervis Bay Territory is consistent with other legislation that applies criminal laws extraterritorially (for example the Crimes at Sea Act 2000). 

 

The purpose of the Regulations is to extend the criminal law of the Jervis Bay Territory to certain Australians in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. 

 

Under subsection 3A(5) of the Act, one of the situations in which the Act applies to a person who does an act in a foreign country is if:

 

• the person is an Australian; and
• the person is undertaking a task or project or performing a function on behalf of the Commonwealth; and
• that foreign country has been declared by regulations to be a declared foreign country for the purposes of the Act.

 

Paragraph 3C(1)(a) of the Act states that the regulations may provide that a foreign country is a declared foreign country for the purposes of the Act.  Paragraph 3C(1)(b) allows this declaration to be limited to a specific category of persons.  Subsection 3C(3) provides that the regulations must specify the day on which the foreign country is to start being a declared foreign country, and the day on which the foreign country is to cease being a declared foreign country for the purposes of the Act.

 

The Crimes (Overseas) (Declared Foreign Countries) Regulations 2003 (the Principal Regulations) prescribe countries for the purposes of section 3C of the Act.  Currently, Iraq, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Jordan) are 'declared foreign countries' under the Act.  The Principal Regulations currently specify that Jordan is a declared foreign country in relation to Australian Federal Police employees who are deployed to Jordan to assist in providing police training to Iraqi personnel until 30 June 2006.  However, the Australian Federal Police deployment in Jordan is likely to extend past 30 June 2006.  

The Crimes (Overseas) (Declared Foreign Countries) Amendment Regulations 2006 (the regulations) extend the existing period in the Principal Regulations so that Jordan continues to be a 'declared foreign country' until 30 June 2008.

 

Subsection 3C(4) of the Act provides that before regulations are made for the purposes of subsection 3C(1), the Minister, after consulting the Minister for Foreign Affairs, must be satisfied that it is appropriate to do so having regard to the following:

 

• whether the Act would apply to Australians in the foreign country even if the regulations were not made;
• the nature of the activities engaged in by Australians in the foreign country;
• the period during which those activities are to be engaged in;
• the number of Australians likely to be engaging in those activities;
• the circumstances in which Australians engaging in activities in the foreign country are subject to, or immune from, the foreign country's criminal laws; and
• any other relevant matter.

The Minister is satisfied that it is appropriate to make the Regulations having regard to these factors.  The Minister has consulted with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, who supports the making of the Regulations.

Details of the Regulations are set out in the Attachment. 

The Regulations are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative
Instruments Act 2003.

The Regulations commence the day after registration on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.

Consultation was unnecessary for this legislative instrument as this instrument is of a minor or machinery nature and does not substantially alter existing arrangements.  It has no direct or substantial indirect effect on business.

ATTACHMENT

Details of the Proposed Crimes (Overseas) (Declared Foreign Countries) Amendment Regulations 2006 (No. 1)

Regulation 1 -- Name of Regulations

This regulation provides that the title of the proposed Regulations is the Crimes (Overseas) (Declared Foreign Countries) Regulations 2006 (No. 1)

Regulation 2 -- Commencement

This regulation provides that the proposed Regulations would commence on the day following registration on FRLI.

Regulation 3 -- amendment of Crimes (Overseas) (Declared foreign Countries) Regulations 2003

This regulation provides that the Crimes (Overseas) Declared Foreign Countries) Regulations 2003 (the Principal Regulations) are amended as set out in the Schedule.

Schedule -- Amendments

Item 1 -- subregulation 7(2)

Subregulation 7(2) of the Principal Regulations provides that Jordan is declared a foreign country for the purposes of the Crimes (Overseas) Act 1964 from 30 June 2004 until 30 June 2006.  This item would extend the period for which Jordan is taken to be a declared foreign country until 30 June 2008.   This would extend the existing period for a further two years.