Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Home Affairs, the Honourable Bob Debus MP)SCHEDULE 2 - INFRINGEMENT NOTICES
Customs Act 1901
Background
24. Division 5 of Part XIII of the Customs Act relates to the issuing of infringement notices in respect of specified minor offences. Subsection 243Z(1) of Division 5 of Part XIII sets out the matters that must be included in an infringement notice. Subsection 243Z(3) provides that an infringement notice may contain any other matters that the Chief Executive Officer of Customs (the CEO) considers necessary.
25. Under section 243XA of the Customs Act, the CEO must develop written guidelines in respect of the administration of Division 5 of Part XIII. In the Infringement Notice Scheme Guidelines (2006) (the INS Guidelines) that were approved by the CEO under section 243XA of the Customs Act, clause 4.2 lists the discretionary matters that may be set out in an infringement notice. These discretionary matters include a statement that if the infringement notice penalty is paid within 28 days of the service of the notice, the person who was issued with the infringement notice cannot be prosecuted for the alleged offence and will not be regarded as having been convicted of an offence (the relevant statement).
26. The INS Guidelines are a legislative instrument subject to parliamentary scrutiny. As part of this scrutiny, the Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances (the Committee) considered that the relevant statement should be one of the mandatory matters to be included in an infringement notice and not a discretionary matter.
27. In response to the Committee's comments, the Customs Act is to be amended so that the relevant statement is a mandatory matter which must be included on an infringement notice.
Item 1 - After paragraph 243Z(1)(f)
28. This item inserts new paragraph (fa) into subsection 243Z(1) of the Customs Act. New paragraph 243Z(1)(fa) requires an infringement notice to state that if the person pays to the CEO, before the end of the period referred to in paragraph 243Z(1)(f), the penalty specified in the notice and, in the case of an alleged offence against section 243T, any unpaid duty or any unrepaid refund or drawback of duty, the person cannot be prosecuted for the alleged offence and will not be regarded as having been convicted of the offence.