Inquiry into the provisions of the Export Market Development Grants
Legislation Amendment Bill 2006
Information about the inquiry
On 30 March 2006, the Senate
referred the provisions of the above bill to the Senate Foreign Affairs,
Defence and Trade Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by Tuesday,
2 May 2006.
The Bill proposes to amend the
Export Market Development Grants Act 1997 (the Act) to:
-
continue the Export Market
Development Grants (EMDG) scheme to the end of the 2010–11 grant year and
provide for a review of the scheme, with a report to the Minister for
Trade by 30 June 2010;
-
increase the overseas visit
allowance from $200 to $300 per day;
-
allow Austrade to deem certain
applicants eligible when they do not technically meet the Act’s current
‘principal status’ requirements;
-
modify the scheme’s Australian
origin rules so that (1) goods coming into their final form in Australia
must be ‘made in Australia’ to be eligible and (2) for other goods to be
eligible, Austrade must be satisfied that Australia will derive a
significant net benefit from the sale of those goods outside Australia;
-
make applicants’ expenses
eligible when they are incurred to increase the return on the disposal of
intellectual property and know-how to a related company;
-
separate the claimable expense
categories for overseas representatives and marketing consultants, cap
expense claims for overseas representatives at $200 000 per claim and for
marketing consultants at $50 000 per claim;
-
revise the rule covering
changes in business ownership to make it clearer for applicants and easier
to administer;
-
allow Austrade to grant special
approval status, including approved body status, for five years rather
than three;
-
provide that the eligibility of
cash payments made by applicants is limited to $10 000 per claim;
-
ensure that the scheme’s rules
clearly set out Austrade’s power to disregard any unsubstantiated,
unreasonable, uncommercial or non-bona fide expense claim;
-
remove the export performance
test from the EMDG scheme;
-
ensure that, as intended,
commission payments remain ineligible for the scheme;
-
correct minor errors in the
Act;
-
repeal the Export Expansion
Grants Act 1978.
Lodging Submissions
Submissions are called for by Thursday, 13
April 2006.
Submissions become Committee documents and are only made public after a
decision by the Committee. Unauthorised release of submissions is not
covered by parliamentary privilege. Further assistance can be obtained by
phoning the secretariat on (02) 6277 3535.
For further information, contact:
Dr Kathleen Dermody
Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia
Top
|