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Chapter 1 - Introduction
Background
1.1
On 30
March 2006, the Senate referred the provisions of the Customs
Legislation Amendment (Border Compliance and Other Measures) Bill 2006 (the Bill)
to the Senate Legal and Constitutional
Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 2 May 2006. On 2 May 2006, the committee resolved to extend the
reporting date until 4 May 2006.
1.2
The Bill seeks to
amend the Customs Act 1901 (Customs
Act) to:
-
allow the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of
Customs or a Regional Director for a state or territory [1] to dispose of goods seized by Customs,
if the CEO or Regional Director is satisfied that the retention of the goods
would constitute a danger to public health or safety (Schedule 1);
-
allow a Customs officer to restrict access by
holders of a security identification card to section 234AA places, ships,
aircraft and wharves (Schedule 2);
-
make technical corrections to provisions
implementing the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (Schedule 3);
-
allow authorised Customs officers to request
from issuing authorities updated required identity information in relation to
security identification cards (Schedule 4);
-
implement an Accredited Client Program to enable
importers meeting the accreditation requirements to utilise streamlined procedures
for the importation of goods (Schedule 5);
-
confer protection from criminal responsibility
for Customs officers handling narcotics in the course of duty, and for persons
who handle narcotics on instructions from Customs officers acting in the course
of duty (Schedule 6); and
-
re-make a previous misdescribed amendment to the
Customs Act (Schedule 7).
Conduct of the inquiry
1.3
The committee advertised the inquiry in The Australian newspaper on 4 and 12 April 2006, and invited
submissions by 18 April 2006.
Details of the inquiry, the Bill, and associated
documents were placed on the committee's website. The committee also wrote to 29
organisations and individuals.
1.4
The committee received seven submissions which
are listed at Appendix 1. Submissions were placed on the committee's website
for ease of access by the public.
1.5
The committee held a public hearing in Sydney on
27 April 2006. A list of witnesses who appeared at the hearing is at Appendix 2
and copies of the Hansard transcript are available through the Internet at http://aph.gov.au/hansard.
Acknowledgement
1.6
The committee thanks those organisations and
individuals who made submissions and gave evidence at the public hearing.
Note on references
1.7
References in this report are to individual
submissions as received by the committee, not to a bound volume. References to
the committee Hansard are to the proof Hansard: page numbers may vary between
the proof and the official Hansard transcript.
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