Customs Amendment (ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Second Protocol Implementation and Other Measures) Act 2024 (116 of 2024)

Schedule 2   Other amendments

Part 1   Approved exporters for Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

Customs Act 1901

2   At the end of Division 4L of Part VI

Add:

126AQE Approved exporters and Declarations of Origin

(1) If:

(a) goods are exported to a Party; and

(b) the goods are claimed to be originating goods, in accordance with Chapter 3 of the Agreement, for the purpose of obtaining a preferential tariff in the Party; and

(c) the Party has not implemented paragraph 1(c) of Article 3.16 of Chapter 3 of the Agreement;

the exporter of the goods must not complete a Declaration of Origin for the goods unless the exporter is, under the regulations, an approved exporter.

(2) The regulations may make provision for and in relation to the approval of entities as approved exporters.

(3) Without limiting subsection (2), the regulations may make provision for and in relation to the following:

(a) the making of applications to the Comptroller-General of Customs by entities for approval as approved exporters and the withdrawal of those applications;

(b) the eligibility criteria that an entity must meet in order for the Comptroller-General to approve the entity as an approved exporter;

(c) the matters that the Comptroller-General must consider in deciding whether to approve an entity as an approved exporter;

(d) the making of decisions by the Comptroller-General in relation to the applications;

(e) the conditions that an approval of an entity as an approved exporter is subject to;

(f) the variation, suspension or termination of an approval of an entity as an approved exporter;

(g) the giving of notice of decisions made by the Comptroller-General;

(h) the review of decisions made by the Comptroller-General.

126AQF RCEP Register of Approved Exporters

(1) The Comptroller-General of Customs may maintain a register, to be known as the RCEP Register of Approved Exporters, containing information (including personal information within the meaning of the Privacy Act 1988) that relates to the following:

(a) each entity approved as an approved exporter under regulations made for the purposes of section 126AQE;

(b) the conditions that an approval of an entity as an approved exporter is subject to;

(c) the variation, suspension or termination of an approval of an entity as an approved exporter.

(2) The Comptroller-General must make any register publicly available.

(3) The register is not a legislative instrument.

126AQG Inclusion of information in approved exporter database

The Comptroller-General of Customs may:

(a) include information (including personal information within the meaning of the Privacy Act 1988) in the approved exporter database; or

(b) disclose information (including personal information within the meaning of the Privacy Act 1988) to a person for the purpose of the information being included in the approved exporter database;

if the information covered by paragraph (a) or (b) relates to the following:

(c) an entity approved as an approved exporter under regulations made for the purposes of section 126AQE;

(d) the conditions that an approval of an entity as an approved exporter is subject to;

(e) the variation, suspension or termination of an approval of an entity as an approved exporter.