House of Representatives

Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Justice and Customs, Senator the Honourable Christopher Martin Ellison)

Outline and financial impact

Outline

The purpose of this Bill is to amend the Customs Act 1901 (the Customs Act), the Customs Legislation Amendment Act (No. 1) 2002 and the Customs Legislation Amendment and Repeal (International Trade Modernisation) Act 2001 (the ITM Act) to:

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amend the circumstances in which outturn reports in respect of containers unloaded from a ship must be given so that they do not have to be given if there are no containers being unloaded (Part 1 of Schedule 1 refers);

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amend the time at which reports in respect of goods for export that are removed from a wharf or airport have to be provided to Customs so that they have to be reported before they are removed (Part 2 of Schedule 1 refers);

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remove provisions that may narrow the class of people who can communicate electronically with Customs (items 4 and 7 of Part 3 of Schedule 1 refer);

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insert new record keeping and evidence provisions in respect of certain electronic communications to and from Customs (the remainder of Part 3 of Schedule 1 refers);

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amend the false or misleading statement offence provisions so that people who cause such statements to be made will be guilty of the relevant offence (Part 4 of Schedule 1 refers);

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amend those same provisions to limit the circumstances in which an offence will not be committed because a person notifies Customs that the information in a communication was incorrect or inadequate and to require any duty owing to be paid (Part 4 of Schedule 1 refers);

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amend the record keeping requirements to ensure that those people who cause statements to be made must keep records that verify those communications (Part 4 of Schedule 1 refers);

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correct a technical error which if left uncorrected would mean that an amendment would never commence (Part 5 of Schedule 1 refers);

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extend the maximum time for the commencement of the ITM Act for up to another year (Part 5A of Schedule 1 refers);

•

insert a provision which reinstates a persons right to seek review of decisions relating to the old administrative penalty scheme by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (Part 6 of Schedule 1 refers); and

•

repeal and replace the transitional arrangements that will apply in respect of exports when the new electronic systems being developed by Customs commence (Part 7 of Schedule 1 refers).

Financial impact statement

The Bill has no financial impact.