Customs Act 1901

PART V - WAREHOUSES  

SECTION 83   DURATION OF WAREHOUSE LICENCE  

83(1)    
A warehouse licence -

(a) comes into force on a date specified in the licence or, if no date is so specified, the date on which the licence is granted; and

(b) subject to this Part, remains in force until 30 June next following the grant of the licence but may be renewed in accordance with section 84.

83(2)    
Notwithstanding that a warehouse licence has not been renewed, a Collector may -

(a) permit goods to be placed in the former warehouse; and

(b) permit the removal of goods from the former warehouse, including the removal of goods to a warehouse; and

(c) by notice in writing to the last holder of the licence, require him or her to remove all or specified goods in the former warehouse to a warehouse approved by the Collector; and

(d) take such control of the former warehouse or all or any goods in the former warehouse as may be necessary for the protection of the revenue or for ensuring compliance with the Customs Acts, any other law of the Commonwealth prescribed by the regulations or a law of a State or Territory prescribed by the regulations; and

(e) by notice in writing to the last holder of the licence, require him or her to pay to the Commonwealth in respect of the services of officers required as the result of the licence not having been renewed (including services relating to the supervision of activities in relation to the former warehouse permitted by a Collector, the stocktaking of goods in the former warehouse or the reconciliation of records relating to such goods) such fee as the Comptroller-General of Customs determines having regard to the cost of the services; and

(f) where the last holder of the licence fails to comply with a requirement under paragraph (c) in relation to goods, remove the goods from the former warehouse to a warehouse; and

(g) where goods have been removed in accordance with paragraph (f), by notice in writing to the last holder of the licence, require him or her to pay to the Commonwealth in respect of the cost of the removal such fee as the Comptroller-General of Customs determines having regard to that cost.

83(3)    

Subject to subsection (4), where a warehouse licence has not been renewed and goods remain in the former warehouse, the Comptroller-General of Customs must by notice -

(a) published on the Department ' s website; and

(b) published in the Gazette ; and

(c) published in a newspaper circulating in the locality in which the warehouse is situated,

inform the owners of goods in the former warehouse -

(d) that they are required, within a time specified in the notice or any further time allowed by the Comptroller-General of Customs, to -

(i) pay to the Collector duty payable in respect of their goods in the former warehouse; or

(ii) remove their goods in the former warehouse to another place in accordance with permission obtained from the Collector; and

(e) that, if they do not comply with the requirements of the notice, their goods in that former warehouse will be sold.

83(4)    

Where the Comptroller-General of Customs is satisfied that all the goods in a former warehouse the licence in respect of which has not been renewed are the property of the person who held the licence, the notice referred to in subsection (3) need not be published as mentioned in that subsection but shall be -

(a) served, either personally or by post, on that person; or

(b) served personally on a person who, at the time of the expiration of the licence, apparently participated in the management or control of the former warehouse.

83(5)    

Where the owner of goods to which a notice under subsection (3) applies fails to comply with the requirements of the notice within the time specified in the notice or any further time allowed by the Comptroller-General of Customs, the goods may be sold by a Collector.

83(6)    
If an amount that the last holder of a licence is required to pay in accordance with a notice under paragraph (2)(e) or (g) is not paid, that amount may be recovered as a debt due to the Commonwealth by action in a court of competent jurisdiction.