Bills Digest no. 39 1976
Customs Tariff Amendment Bill (No. 2) 1976
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
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Passage History
Customs
Tariff Amendment Bill (No. 2) 1976
Date introduced: 4 November 1976
House: House of Representatives
Purpose
To amend the Customs Tariff Act 1966 for tariff
changes made in Customs Tariff Proposals Nos. 7 to 22 (1976) since the
passing of the Customs Tariff Amendment Act 1976 in May.
Relevant Information
The Bill contains seventeen schedules, 16
of which set out the changes to be made in individual tariff items in
various Schedules of the Customs Tariff Act 1966. The changes are given
retrospective legal effect to dates as early as 1 January 1976. Proposals Nos. 7 to 13
had been temporarily validated beyond the end of the Autumn session of
Parliament by Customs Tariff Validation Act 1976.
In the main the changes give effect to decisions
by the Government in respect of the following reports of the Industries
Assistance Commission and the Temporary Assistance Authority:–
Aerospace Industry;
Aluminium and Articles Thereof, etc.;
Cellulose Acetate Flake;
Commercial Motor Vehicles, Parts and Accessories;
Filament, Fluorescent and Other Discharge Lamps;
Hosiery;
Knitted and Woven Apparel;
Motor Vehicles – Import Restriction;
Other Electronic Equipment;
Paints, Varnishes and Lacquers;
Precision Ground Steel Ball Bearings;
Railway and Tramway Locomotives, Rolling Stock, etc.;
Spectacle and Sunglass Frames, Sunglasses;
Superphosphate Production;
Telecommunication Equipment;
Welding Consumables and Flux Cored Solder;
Orange Juice;
Paper;
Sheets and Plates of Iron and Steel; and
Thick Plywood.
The last four reports named were those made
by the Temporary Assistance Authority.
The Bill also contains changes resulting from
the biennial review of the system of tariff preferences for developing
countries, In most cases rates of duty on goods qualifying for tariff
preference have been reduced. However, certain imports have been excluded
from tariff preference where imports from developing country suppliers
are causing or threatening injury to local industry. (clauses 3–5).
The Minister has made available a summary
of the tariff amendments which gives a comparison between the new and
the old rates. On a superficial examination, there seem to be more increases
than decreases. Some of the items shown require no change in duties but
the specification of the item has to be redrafted to fit in with changes
to related items.
CUSTOMS TARIFF AMENDMENTS—LEGISLATIVE PROCESS
Changes in the tariff schedule are usually
put into operation by administrative action, and later validated by legislation.
The process is described in more detail below.
Tariff changes may be put into operation,
when Parliament is sitting, by the introduction of a Customs Tariff Proposal
in the House of Representatives. The House is technically free to debate
the proposal but, by long standing practice, debate is usually adjourned
and never resumed. If Parliament is not sitting, the changes may be put
into operation by the publication in the Gazette of an intention to propose,
which must be later introduced in the House of Representatives within
seven days after it resumes.
The introduction of the Proposals does not
change the tariffs in the Customs Tariff Act. However, under Section
226 of the Customs Act 1901, customs officers collecting the duties at
the new rates proposed in Parliament are protected from legal proceedings
until the end of either six months or the session of Parliament in which
the proposal was made, whichever happens first.
Before this period expires, the changes have
to be incorporated in legislation. In cases where the Government is unable
to prepare in time the legislation to amend the Customs Tariff Act
it may temporarily cover itself by having a Customs Tariff Validation
Act passed. This is a machinery measure which takes over from section
226 pending the introduction of a Customs Tariff Amendment Bill which
formally enacts the tariff proposals. For example, the Customs Tariff
Validation Act 1976, introduced on 2 June and assented to on 9 June 1976,
gave legal authorisation to customs duties collected up to 31 December
1976 under the various Proposals introduced on 8 & 29 April, 18 &
27 May and 1 June 1976.
There is usually no debate on the Validation
Bills.
Validation Acts also have a limited life and
ultimately the changes must be incorporated in amendments to the schedules
to the Customs Tariff Act (formerly known simply as the Customs Tariff).
Customs Tariff Amendment Bills are normally introduced once or
twice a year, consolidating all the Proposals introduced since the previous
Customs Tariff Amendment Bill.
The second reading of the Custom’s Tariff
Amendment Bill is normally the opportunity to debate the policy measures.
However, since it sometimes comes more than a year after the actual changes
were implemented and may include a number of widely different proposals,
consideration of the individual measures is in practice often rather sketch.*
To assist the Parliament, the Minister now
provides separately a summary of the tariff amendments which show a comparison
between the new and old rates of duty.
* Some Members of Parliament have commented on the process for tariff
amendments, for example, in the following speeches in Hansard for the
House of Representatives:
Hon. C.R. Kelly, 5
December 1973 (P. 4321–2), 4 June 1975 (P. 3361–2).
Mr. M.J. Young, 29
April 1976 (P. 1784), 3 June 1976 (P. 2948–50).
Finance, Industries, Trade and Development
11 November 1976
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ISSN 1328-8091
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