Bills Digest No. 111 2002-03
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Legislation
Amendment Bill (No. 2) 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
Main Provisions
Endnotes
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Passage History
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2002
Date Introduced:
12 December 2002
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Agriculture, Fisheries and
Forestry
Commencement:
Various.
Purpose
To amend the
-
- Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Act 1980 to
deal with a European Union wine trading agreement and to extend the
time limit for prosecutions of an offence
-
- Export Control Act 1982: to permit regulation pursuant
to the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, similar
United States code, etc;
-
- National Residue Survey Administration Act 1992: to
clarify the way in which the National Residue Survey Reserve may be
applied and to implement privacy principles;
-
- Quarantine Act 1908: to bring offence provisions into
line with the Criminal Code;
-
- Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Legislation Amendment
Act (No. 1) 2002: to allow some amendments to be brought
forward, depending on that Act's commencement; and
-
- Dairy Industry Legislation Amendment Act 2002: to
correct a technical error.
Schedule 1 amends the
Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Act 1980.
Item 1 expands the powers of
the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation so that it may give
effect to a 'prescribed wine-trading agreement' (new
paragraph 8(2)(aaa)). Item 5 allows the
regulations to impose obligations to give effect such an agreement
(new paragraph 46(1)(b)).
In 1995 Australia and New Zealand agreed to
establish a joint food standards regime. The new Australia New
Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code) was gazetted in
December 2000. Essentially, the Code 'aims to reduce the
prescription of existing food regulations in both countries and
lead to greater industry innovation, competition and
trade'.(1)
The Australia New Zealand Food Standards
Code was intended to replace the Australian Food Standards
Code and to become the sole food code for both countries by
December 2002. The Food Standards Code had been subject to
a standards-by-standards review by the Australia New Zealand Food
Authority (ANSFA) since 1994. It was also subject to a review under
the National Competition Policy in February 2002.(2)
During the latter review, ANZFA identified anti-competitive
anomalies arising from an EU wine trade agreement:
ANZFA determined that some of the production
provisions for wine that underpin Australia s Agreement with the EU
(and contained in Volume 1 of the Food Standards Code)
were inappropriate in a joint wine standard because they prescribed
practices relating to wine quality that could become technical
barriers to trade.
Under the Australia New Zealand Food
Standards Code, wine and wine products are regulated by
various food standards including Standard 2.7.4. This 'sets general
definitions for wine and wine product and provides permissions for
the addition of certain foods during the production of
wine'.(3) While it recognises 'accepted wine practices
throughout the world', it was not to be strict enough to give
effect to the wine trade agreement which 'relies on Australian wine
being recognised as wine of designated quality and origin'.
The issue was resolved by amending the
Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code. A new standard
was included that only applies to relevant wine made in Australia.
Standard 4.1.1 'regulates the production of traditional wine,
sparkling wine and fortified wine'.(4) It duplicates the
effect of the production provisions in Volume 1 of the Food
Standards Code.
It was considered impractical to amend the
Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Act 1980 as the Act
was limited by legislative powers under the Commonwealth
Constitution. It did not cover all wine made and sold in Australia,
'particularly wine manufactured by unincorporated bodies and not
traded interstate or internationally'.(5)
Items 1 and 5
allow the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation and the
regulations to resolve some residual regulatory issues surrounding
the EU wine trading agreement.
Item 3 inserts a provision that
extends the time limit for prosecutions of offences in relation to
the export of grape products. Ordinarily the time limit would be
one year. The time limit proposed by the amendment would be 7
years.
Commencement
Schedule 1 commences on Royal
Assent.
Schedule 2 Export Control Act
1982
Schedule 2 amends the
Export Control Act 1982.
Regulations under the Export Control Act
1982 may empower the Minister to make orders in relation to
any matters covered by the Regulations (paragraph 25(2)(g)). Orders
may deal with a matter by 'applying, adopting or incorporating,
with or without modification,' various matters including provisions
of principal or subordinate legislation and overseas importation
guidelines relating to the production of goods in Australia
(subsection 25(5)).
Item 1 provides that, in the
absence of such importation guidelines, an order may apply, etc.
any matter contained in the Australia New Zealand Food
Standards Code or the equivalent United Nations document, the
Codex Alimentarius.(6)
Commencement
Schedule 2 commences on Royal
Assent.
Schedule 3 National Residue
Survey Administration Act 1992
Schedule 3 amends the
National Residue Survey Administration Act 1992.
The National Residue Survey (NRS) monitors
residues of agricultural and veterinary chemicals in raw
agricultural produce to meet national and international
requirements. This is generally required for access agreements for
both export and domestic markets.(7)
The National Residue Survey Administration
Act 1992 establishes the National Residue Survey Reserve, a
fund comprising levies, penalties, matching payments, etc. that may
be spent primarily on monitoring, reporting, testing and prevention
in respect of contaminants in food products, animal feed, or fibre
products that are produced in Australia or are produced from
animals or plants that are themselves produced in Australia
(section 8(1)).
Items 1 6 restructure and
clarify the provisions regulating expenditure from the Reserve.
Instead of 'food products, animal feed, or
fibre products' the Act would refer to 'food products',
'products of a primary industry' or items used in producing these
products.
As is presently the case, the Reserve would be
applicable to testing of contaminants. This would extend expressly
to testing of the environment and would encompass potential sources
and causes of contaminants rather than merely actual sources and
causes per se.
Similarly, the Reserve would be applicable to
prevention. This would extend also to risk management in relation
to contamination of applicable products.
Item 7 replaces an existing
provision governing release of information to better reflect
privacy issues, particularly by imposing a penalty on unlawful
disclosure.
Commencement
Schedule 3 commences on Royal
Assent.
Schedule 4 Quarantine Act
1908
Schedule 4 amends the
Quarantine Act 1908.
Most of these amendments bring offence
provisions into line with the Criminal Code.
Item 3 clarifies the operation
of a provision governing 'first ports of entry'. Currently, it is
an offence to enter Australia or the Cocos Islands otherwise than
by a 'first port of entry' without the permission of the Minister
(section 20). The amendment clarifies that:
-
- the issue of permission is a defence rather than an element of
the offence, making this a matter for which the defendant owes an
evidential burden, and
- the offence applies to Christmas Island.
Item 4 makes a similar
amendment in relation to overseas aircraft.
Item 5 restructures a provision
dealing with aircraft entering Australia. It splits the offence
into two provisions, one dealing with commanders and the other with
operators. It also clarifies that the offence applies to Christmas
Island.
Item 6 clarifies the operation
of a provision governing boarding and approaching vessels. It
separates the offence and defence provisions in accordance with the
Criminal Code.
Items 8 21, 23
25, 27 28 and 30 33 have
similar aims in relation to other offences.
Commencement
Most of Schedule 4 commences 28
days after Royal Assent. The commencement of items 3
5 and 23 are contingent upon the
commencement of item 1 of Schedule 1 to the
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Legislation Amendment Act
(No. 1) 2002.
Schedule 5 contains amendments
relating to Christmas Island that are contingent upon the
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Legislation Amendment Act
(No. 1) 2002. If item 1 of Schedule 1 of that
Act commences before item 1 of Schedule
4 of the principal Bill, then Schedule 5
is redundant and its amendments do not come into operation.
Commencement
Schedule 5 commences 28 days
after Royal Assent, subject to the commencement of the
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Legislation Amendment Act
(No. 1) 2002.
Schedule 6 Dairy Industry
Legislation Amendment Act 2002
Schedule 5 amends the Dairy
Industry Legislation Amendment Act 2002 to correct a technical
error among the amendments made by that Act.
Commencement
Schedule 6 commences
immediately after the time specified for the relevant amendment in
the Dairy Industry Legislation Amendment Act 2002.
-
- Australia and New Zealand Food Authority,
Initial/Draft Assessment Report P253; Wine Production
(Australia Only), 8 May 2002, p. 3.
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand,
National Competition Policy Review on the Food Standards Code,
February 2002.
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand, Food Standards
Code at http://www.anzfa.gov.au/foodstandardscode/,
Standard 2.7.4.
- Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation, Standard P4 Wine,
Sparkling Wine and Fortified Wine at http://www.awbc.com.au/winelaw/standard_p4.asp.
- Australia and New Zealand Food Authority,
Initial/Draft Assessment Report P253; Wine Production
(Australia Only), 8 May 2002, p. 7.
- See generally the Website of the Codex Alimentarius Commission
of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and
the World Health Organization: http://www.codexalimentarius.net/.
- For example, since 1985 a national residue monitoring program
and certification has been a mandatory requirement for nations
exporting meat and poultry products to the United States.
Nathan Hancock
12 February 2003
Bills Digest Service
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ISSN 1328-8091
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