Bills Digest No. 6 2002-03
Industry, Tourism and Resources Legislation Amendment
Bill 2002
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest
does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be
consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the
Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Endnotes
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Passage History
Industry, Tourism and Resources
Legislation Amendment Bill 2002
Date Introduced: 27
June 2002
House: House of
Representatives
Portfolio:
Industry, Tourism and Resources
Commencement: The
various measures have differing commencement dates which are
detailed below.
Purpose
To:
-
- make technical amendments to the legislation in the portfolio,
and
-
- repeal redundant legislation
As there is no central theme to the Bill, the
background to the measures will be described below.
Amendments to
ACIS Administration Act 1999
The Australian Competitiveness and Investment
Scheme (ACIS) was established to provide transitional assistance to
encourage competitive investment and innovation in the Australian
automotive industry.
The Act provides incentives for registered
organisations for eligible production, investment in plant
equipment, research and development. Currently these incentives
come in the form of duty credits that may be sold or transferred to
other people, or used to offset customs duty liability on eligible
imports.
At present, it is not clear whether there is
authority for those duty credits to be used for refunds on duties
that have already been paid. To clarify this, items
1-10 contain amendments that specifically enable duty
credits earned under the ACIS to be used to gain refunds on duty
already paid on eligible imports since the commencement of the ACIS
on 1 January 2002. This is consistent with the intention of the
scheme. New section 75A requires that the
Secretary be notified of an application for duty credit in an
approved form and comply with any further applicable requirements
specified in regulations.
Commencement: items 1-10 will
commence on a single day to be fixed by Proclamation or no later
than 6 months after the Act receives Royal Assent.
Amendments to Pooled Development
Funds Act 1992
Section 31 of the Pooled Development Funds
Act 1992 (the PDF Act) restricts certain persons that are not
(among other things) widely-held complying superannuation funds,
from holding more than 30% of a pooled development fund (PDF)
subject to the approval of the PDF Registration Board.
Subsection 4A(1) of the PDF Act defined a
widely-held complying superannuation fund as one that was not an
excluded superannuation fund under the Superannuation Industry
(Supervision) Act 1993 provided it met certain tests. From
8 October 1999, the definition of an excluded superannuation
fund was repealed from the Superannuation Industry
(Supervision) Act 1993. This meant that the definition of a
widely-held complying superannuation fund became inoperative.
Item 15 replaces the reference to the repealed
definition and, according to the Explanatory
Memorandum, retains the intention that a widely-held complying
superannuation fund be defined as a fund containing at least 5
members. Item 16 is designed to ensure that no
action is taken against widely-held superannuation funds that may
otherwise have been liable between 8 October 1999 and the
commencement of the proposed amendment.
Commencement: the day after Royal Assent.
Amendments to Trade Practices
Act 1974
The Trade Practices Act 1974 currently
protects certain conduct and representations as to the place of
origin of products. If a product meets a general test for country
of origin representations, then it cannot be the subject of
litigation for misleading or deceptive conduct under section 52,
nor for false or misleading representations as to place of origin
under paragraphs 53(eb) and 75AZC(1)(i).(1)
According to the Explanatory
Memorandum, it may also be possible to make a false or
misleading representation about the country of origin under the
general false or misleading provisions in paragraphs 53(a) and
75AZC(1)(a).(2) These state that a corporation must
not:
falsely represent that goods are of a particular
standard, quality, value, grade, composition, style or model or
have had a particular history or particular previous use.
Items 25-28 broaden the scope
of the exemption to cover potential actions taken under these
paragraphs as well. Provisions relating to the use of logos
representing country of origin and the evidential burden are also
amended accordingly. This accords with the intention to protect
country of origin representations that meet the legislative
criteria.
Commencement: the day after Royal Assent.
Item 29 in effect clarifies that proceedings on
foot are unaffected because the expansion of the defence only
applies to representations made after the commencement of the
proposed amendments.
Items 11 and 13 of the Bill
repeal two Acts that are no longer relevant. The Aluminium
Industry Act 1960 provided the legislative approval to allow
for the Commonwealth s interest in the Bell Bay smelter in Tasmania
to be sold to Comalco Limited. The Management and Investment
Companies Act 1983 established a scheme that ceased to operate
in 1991, with the related clawback provisions (protective refund
clauses) becoming inactive in 1995-96.
Commencement: the day after Royal Assent.
On 1 July 1999, Standards Australia changed its
name and status as an association to become incorporated as a
company limited by guarantee under the Corporations Law.
Item 12 updates the reference to the Standards
Association of Australia to Standards Australia International
Limited in the definition of operating software in the
Bounty (Computers) Act 1984.
Commencement: 1 July 1999.
On 15 April 1999, administrative responsibility
for the States Grants (Petroleum Products) Act 1965
transferred from the Australian Customs Service to the then
Department for Industry, Science and Resources. Accordingly,
references to the Chief Executive Officer of Customs have been
changed to the Secretary of the Department (items
17-24).
Commencement: the day after Royal Assent.
Item 14 is a minor grammatical
change to the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Legislation Amendment
Act 2001 that arose from an oversight in earlier amendments to
that Act.
Commencement: immediately after the time
specified in the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Legislation
Amendment Act 2001 for the commencement of item 17 of Schedule
1 to that Act.
-
- These two paragraphs are identical provisions, the latter being
a strict liability offence attracting a criminal penalty. For
further background to the introduction of the country of origin
test see the
Bills Digest for the Trade Practices Amendment (Country of
Origin Representations) Bill 1998, No. 213, 1997 98.
- It is worth noting that the Explanatory
Memorandum only refers to the inclusion of paragraph 53(a) in
the defence and does not refer to the addition of the equivalent
strict liability offence under paragraph 75AZC(1)(a). The proposed
amendments, however, cover both of these paragraphs.
Sudip Sen
13 August 2002
Bills Digest Service
Information and Research Services
This paper has been prepared for general distribution to
Senators and Members of the Australian Parliament. While great care
is taken to ensure that the paper is accurate and balanced, the
paper is written using information publicly available at the time
of production. The views expressed are those of the author and
should not be attributed to the Information and Research Services
(IRS). Advice on legislation or legal policy issues contained in
this paper is provided for use in parliamentary debate and for
related parliamentary purposes. This paper is not professional
legal opinion. Readers are reminded that the paper is not an
official parliamentary or Australian government document.
IRS staff are available to discuss the paper's
contents with Senators and Members and their staff but not with
members of the public.
ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 2002
Except to the extent of the uses permitted under the
Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including
information storage and retrieval systems, without the prior
written consent of the Parliamentary Library, other than by Members
of the Australian Parliament in the course of their official
duties.
Published by the Department of the Parliamentary Library,
2002.
Back to top