Customs Legislation Amendment Act (No. 1) 2002 (82 of 2002)

Schedule 5   Reporting re-mail items

Part 1   Amendments commencing first

Customs Act 1901

4   At the end of Division 3 of Part IV

Add:

Subdivision E - Registering re-mail reporters

67F - Applying to be a re-mail reporter

(1) A person or partnership may apply to be registered as a re-mail reporter.

Note: A re-mail reporter is generally not required to give information about individual re-mail items in a cargo report: see subsections 64AB(3E) and (3F).

(2) An application must:

(a) be in writing; and

(b) be in an approved form; and

(c) contain the information that the form requires; and

(d) be accompanied by any other documentation that the form requires; and

(e) be signed in the manner indicated by the form; and

(f) be lodged with an authorised officer.

67G - Registering re-mail reporters

(1) The CEO must register an applicant as a re-mail reporter if:

(a) the applicant applies under section 67F; and

(b) the CEO is satisfied that the applicant would be unlikely to have information, or access to information, about re-mail items that would allow the applicant to make cargo reports at a level of specificity below the level of submaster air waybill or ocean bill of lading; and

(c) the CEO is satisfied that the applicant meets the fit and proper person test under section 67H.

(2) For the purposes of deciding whether to register the applicant, the CEO may request, in writing, the applicant to provide additional information specified in the request within a specified period.

(3) The CEO must decide whether to register the applicant within:

(a) if no additional information has been requested under subsection (2) - 60 days of the lodgment of the application under section 67F; or

(b) if additional information has been requested under subsection (2) - 60 days of the CEO receiving the information.

(4) The CEO must:

(a) notify the applicant in writing of his or her decision; and

(b) if the decision is to register the applicant - specify, in the notification, the day from which the applicant is registered as a re-mail reporter.

(5) The registration may be made subject to any conditions specified in the notification.

67H - Fit and proper person test

(1) An applicant meets the fit and proper person test for the purposes of paragraph 67G(1)(c) if the CEO is satisfied that:

(a) if the applicant is a natural person - the applicant is a fit and proper person to be registered as a re-mail reporter; and

(b) if the applicant is a partnership - all of the partners are fit and proper persons to be members of a partnership registered as a re-mail reporter; and

(c) if the applicant is a company - all of the company's directors, officers and shareholders who would participate in managing the affairs of the company are fit and proper persons to do so; and

(d) each employee of the applicant who would participate in making cargo reports in relation to re-mail items under section 64AB is a fit and proper person to do so; and

(e) if the applicant is a company - the company is a fit and proper company to be registered as a re-mail reporter.

(2) The CEO must, in deciding whether a person is a fit and proper person for the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), (b), (c) or (d), have regard to:

(a) any conviction of the person of an offence against this Act committed within the 10 years immediately before the decision; and

(b) any conviction of the person of an offence punishable by imprisonment for one year or longer:

(i) against another law of the Commonwealth; or

(ii) against a law of a State or Territory;

if that offence was committed within the 10 years immediately before that decision; and

(c) whether the person is an insolvent under administration; and

(d) whether the person was, in the 2 years immediately before that decision, a director of, or concerned in the management of, a company that:

(i) had been, or is being, wound up; or

(ii) had had its registration as a re-mail reporter cancelled by the CEO under paragraph 67K(1)(a), (b) or (d); and

(e) whether any misleading information or document has been provided in relation to the person by the applicant under subsection 67F(2) or 67G(2); and

(f) if any information or document given by or in relation to the person was false - whether the applicant knew that the information or document was false.

(3) The CEO must, in deciding whether a company is a fit and proper company for the purpose of paragraph (1)(e), have regard to:

(a) any conviction of the company of an offence:

(i) against this Act; or

(ii) if it is punishable by a fine of $5,000 or more - against another law of the Commonwealth, or a law of a State or Territory;

committed:

(iii) within the 10 years immediately before that decision; and

(iv) at a time when any person who is presently a director, officer or shareholder of a kind referred to in paragraph (1)(c) in relation to the company, was such a director, officer or shareholder; and

(b) whether a receiver of the property, or part of the property, of the company has been appointed; and

(c) whether the company is under administration within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001; and

(d) whether the company has executed, under Part 5.3A of that Act, a deed of company arrangement that has not yet terminated; and

(e) whether the company has been placed under official management; and

(f) whether the company is being wound up.

(4) Nothing in this section affects the operation of Part VIIC of the Crimes Act 1914 (which includes provisions that, in certain circumstances, relieve persons from the requirement to disclose spent convictions and requires persons aware of such convictions to disregard them).

67I - Obligation of re-mail reporters to notify the CEO of certain matters

A re-mail reporter must notify the CEO in writing if:

(a) an event or circumstance occurs after the reporter's registration which section 67H would require the CEO to have regard to if the reporter were, at that time, an applicant for registration; or

(b) a person becomes, or ceases to be:

(i) if the reporter is a partnership - a member of the partnership; and

(ii) if the reporter is a company - a director, officer or shareholder of the company who would participate in managing the affairs of the company; and

(iii) an employee of the reporter who would participate in making cargo reports in relation to re-mail items under section 64AB.

67J - Varying etc. conditions of registration

(1) After registration, the CEO may impose a new condition on a re-mail reporter's registration by notifying the reporter in writing of the condition.

(2) The CEO may remove or vary any condition of a re-mail reporter's registration by notifying the reporter in writing of the removal or variation.

67K - Cancelling the registration of a re-mail reporter

(1) The CEO may cancel the registration of a re-mail reporter if:

(a) the reporter reports an item of cargo in the approved form or statement referred to in subsection 64AB(3E) that was not a re-mail item; or

(b) the reporter uses the approved form or statement in breach of subsection 64AB(3F); or

(c) the CEO is no longer satisfied as mentioned in paragraph 67G(1)(b) or (c); or

(d) the reporter breaches a condition of the reporter's registration or section 67I.

(2) The CEO must notify the reporter in writing of the cancellation of the registration.