House of Representatives

Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by authority of the Treasurer, the Hon Peter Costello, MP)

Chapter 11 - Commencement and Application

Introduction

11.1 This Chapter discusses the commencement and special application rules of the law. The rules dealt with are:

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commencement provisions;

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application of the law to the external Territories;

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application of the law outside Australia;

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application of the law to things that happen before the new law starts; and

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application of the law to the States and Territories.

Commencement Provisions

11.2 The law will commence on1 July 2000.

Application of the law to the external Territories

11.3 The law will not extend to Australia's external Territories. As a consequence, wine brought to an external Territory from a place outside Australia will not be imported into Australia at that time but wine brought to Australia from an external Territory will be imported into Australia. Similarly, a dealing with wine when it is in an external Territory will not be an assessable dealing for wine tax purposes.

Application of the law outside Australia

11.4 The law will extend to acts, omissions, matters and things that occur outside Australia. However, this rule will be displaced by any contrary intention in the law.

Example 1: Company X makes a wholesale sale of wine that is in Australia at the time of the sale, but the sale is entered into in New Zealand (and both parties are in New Zealand at the time of the sale). The law will apply to the sale, even though it is entered into outside Australia.

Example 2: Company Y makes a wholesale sale of wine that is in New Zealand at the time of the sale, but the sale is entered into in Australia (and both parties are in Australia at the time of the sale). The law will not apply to the sale because it will be an essential element of every assessable dealing under the law that the wine be in Australia at the time of the assessable dealing.

Application of the law to things that happen before the law starts

11.5 The law will apply to acts and omissions that happen before the law comes into operation.

11.6 The main purpose of these provisions is to ensure that a course of conduct (or omission) does not fall outside the law (and the existing wholesale sales tax law) simply because one of the elements of the course of conduct happens before the law starts.

Example: Company A manufactures wine before the law starts, but sells the wine by wholesale after the law has started. The wholesale sale will be an assessable dealing under the wine tax law.

Application of the law to the States and Territories

11.7 The new law will bind the States, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. This means that they will be liable to tax on most assessable dealings with wine (unless an exemption applies).

Note: Each of the Wine Tax Imposition Bills will ensure that wine tax is not imposed on any property belonging to a State.