House of Representatives

Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Home Affairs, the Honourable Jason Clare MP)

General outline

1. The purpose of this Bill is to amend the Customs Act 1901 (the Act) to introduce a new offence for bringing into Australia a new category of goods known as 'restricted goods.' Restricted goods will be prescribed by regulation and would be prohibited imports if they were imported into Australia.

2. The Bill will also make a number of technical amendments including:

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clarifying that self-powered ships and aircraft that are imported or intended to be imported are subject to the control of Customs and should be entered for home consumption;

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amending a number of valuation definitions to ensure consistency with the Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (World Trade Organisation Customs Valuation Agreement);

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enabling officers of Customs to designate a customs controlled area for both passengers and crew, and the CEO to designate a seaport as a customs controlled area;

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allowing the CEO to request further information from an applicant, to address any concerns, prior to the grant of a warehouse licence;

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aligning the treatment of the timeliness of the report of cargo reporters;

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repealing the legislation which introduced the accredited client program;

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repealing expired moratorium period for cargo reporting; and

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make other minor technical amendments.

Financial impact statement

Nil.