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 statement

Outline

1. The purpose of this Bill is to amend the Customs Act 1901, the Customs Legislation Amendment Act (No. 1) 2002 and the Customs Legislation Amendment and Repeal (International Trade Modernisation) Act 2001 (the ITM Act), the Import Processing Charges (Amendment and Repeal) Act 2002 and the Migration Act 1958 to:

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insert provisions which will allow the Minister to order the detention of certain imported goods when the Minister considers that it is in the public interest to do so;

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replace the provisions for calculating duty payable on alcoholic beverages;

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remove the requirement to pay cargo report processing charge in respect of in-transit cargo reports;

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amend the definition of commander in relation to Commonwealth ships and aircraft;

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amend the provisions that allow ships to be detained to make it clear that those ships can travel on the high seas to reach the place they are being taken;

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allow the timing requirements in respect of outward manifests to be amended by regulation;

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expand the definition of arrival in respect of ships and aircraft;

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amend and insert provisions in relation to self-assessed clearance declarations;

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amend the document retention provisions to allow regulations to exempt specified communications from those requirements; and

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make a number of minor amendments to the provisions of the Customs Act that will be inserted or amended by the ITM Act.

2. In addition the Bill:

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repeals the existing transitional provisions in respect of import entries for when the import provisions of the ITM Act commence; and

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enacts transitional provisions for imports, arrival and cargo reporting that will apply when the relevant provisions of the ITM Act commence.

Financial impact statement

3. The early removal of the refund application fee (items 28 to 30 of Schedule 2) is expected to reduce revenue by $0.269M.

4. The amendments relating to the calculation of customs duty on alcoholic beverages (items 16 and 17) will avoid $4.8m per year in potential revenue loss

5. The other measures do not have a financial impact.