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2013-2014-2015
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
EDUCATION SERVICES FOR OVERSEAS STUDENTS
(REGISTRATION CHARGES) AMENDMENT
(STREAMLINING REGULATION)
BILL 2015
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Education and Training,
the Honourable Christopher Pyne MP)
Education Services for Overseas Students
(Registration Charges) Amendment (Streamlining
Regulation) Bill 2015
OUTLINE
The purpose of the Bill is to make minor changes to the Education Services
for Overseas Students (Registration Charges) Act 1997 (Registration Charges
Act) that are consequent on changes to be made to the Education Services
for Overseas Students Act 2000 (ESOS Act) by the Education Services for
Overseas Students Amendment (Streamlining Regulation) Bill 2015
(Streamlining Regulation Bill).
The Streamlining Regulation Bill amends the ESOS Act to (amongst other
things) remove the minimum two-year period of registration for a provider
under that Act.
The amendments in the Bill will ensure that an education provider registered
under the ESOS Act pays all entry to market charges but is not charged more
than once if its registration period is less than two years and it seeks renewal.
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FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT
There is no financial impact concerned with this Bill.
REGULATION IMPACT STATEMENT
The Office of Best Practice Regulation has advised that a Regulation Impact
Statement is not required for this Bill (OBPR ID 19583).
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STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary
Scrutiny) Act 2011
EDUCATION SERVICES FOR OVERSEAS STUDENTS
(REGISTRATION CHARGES) AMENDMENT (STREAMLINING
REGULATION) BILL 2015
This Bill is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or
declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human
Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Overview of the Bill
The purpose of the Education Services for Overseas Students (Registration
Charges) Amendment (Streamlining Regulation) Bill 2015 (Registration
Charges Bill) is to make minor changes to the Education Services for
Overseas Students (Registration Charges) Act 1997 (Registration Charges
Act) that are consequent on changes to be made to the Education Services
for Overseas Students Act 2000 (ESOS Act) by the Education Services for
Overseas Students Amendment (Streamlining Regulation) Bill 2015
(Streamlining Regulation Bill).
The Streamlining Regulation Bill amends the ESOS Act to (amongst other
things) remove the minimum two-year period of registration for a provider
registered on the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for
Overseas Students (CRICOS). The Registration Charges Bill will ensure that
an education provider registered under the ESOS Act pays all entry to market
charges but is not charged more than once if its registration period is less
than two years and it seeks renewal.
Human Rights Implications
Right to education
This Bill engages the right to education, contained in Article 13 of the
International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. In particular,
this Bill has an effect on the provision of education services to international
students by bodies corporate registered on CRICOS.
Articles 13(3) and (4) state that countries are obliged to establish "minimum
educational standards" to which all education institutions established are
required to conform. They must also maintain a transparent and effective
system to monitor such standards. This Bill promotes these rights through the
various measures in the associated Streamlining Regulation Bill, which will
improve the regulation of institutional quality and enforcement of appropriate
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standards. This Bill will ensure institutions are charged appropriately where
costs are recovered for certain activities to register them on CRICOS and
monitor their compliance with the ESOS Act and associated legislative
instruments.
Conclusion
This Bill is compatible with human rights because it promotes the right to
education.
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EDUCATION SERVICES FOR OVERSEAS STUDENTS
(REGISTRATION CHARGES) AMENDMENT (STREAMLINING
REGULATION) BILL 2015
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1 - Short title
Clause 1 provides for the Act to be cited as the Education Services for
Overseas Students (Registration Charges) Amendment (Streamlining
Regulation) Act 2015.
Clause 2 - Commencement
Subclause 2(1) inserts a three column table setting out commencement
information for various provisions in the Bill. Each provision of the Bill
specified in column 1 of the table commences (or is taken to have
commenced) in accordance with column 2 of the table and any other
statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.
Sections 1 to 3 and anything else in the Act not otherwise covered by the
table commence on the day the Act receives the Royal Assent.
Schedule 1 commences at the same time that Schedule 1 to the Education
Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Streamlining Regulation) Act
2015 commences (i.e. 1 July 2016).
Any information in column three of the table is not part of the Act (sub-
clause 2(2)).
A note explains that the commencement times in the table will not be
amended should the provisions of this Act be amended by any future Act.
Clause 3 - Schedules
Clause 3 provides that any legislation that is specified in a Schedule is
amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule and
that any other item in a Schedule has effect according to its terms.
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List of abbreviations
ESOS Act Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000
Streamlining Regulation Bill Education Services for Overseas Students
Amendment (Streamlining Regulation) Bill 2015
Registration Charges Act Education Services for Overseas Students
(Registration Charges) Act 1997
Registration Charges Education Services for Overseas Students
Regulations (Registration Charges) Regulations 2011
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Schedule 1 Entry to market charges
Summary
The Registration Charges Act requires certain registered providers to pay an
entry to market charge when they are first registered to provide a course at a
location under the ESOS Act, and at the start of each of the subsequent two
years of their registration. The entry to market charges replace a previous
initial registration charge, and have applied since 1 January 2012.
The entry to market charges are generally payable by providers seeking their
first registration, and by providers whose registration has been cancelled or, in
some cases, expired and who are seeking to be registered under the ESOS
Act again.
Providers seeking new registration under the ESOS Act are liable to pay three
entry to market charges, which are as follows for 2015:
$7,998 at the time the provider first becomes registered;
$5,332 on the first anniversary of the day on which the provider was
registered; and
$2,666 on the second anniversary of the day on which the provider was
registered.
Currently, under the Registration Charges Regulations, government schools,
state or territory VET institutions, and Table A providers (as defined in the
Higher Education Support Act 2003 - essentially public universities) are
exempt from the requirement to pay entry to market charges.
The Streamlining Regulation Bill amends the ESOS Act to (amongst other
things) remove the minimum two-year period of registration for a provider. As
a consequence of that change, this Bill clarifies the application of the entry to
market charges to ensure that an education provider registered under the
ESOS Act pays all entry to market charges but is not charged more than once
if its registration period is less than two years and it seeks renewal of that
registration.
The Bill provides that the first entry to market charge will be due for payment
before the provider is registered to provide the course. If the provider is still
registered on the first anniversary of the provider's registration, the second
entry to market charge will be payable on that day. Similarly, if the provider is
still registered on the second anniversary of the provider's registration, the
third entry to market charge will be payable on that day. The Bill specifies the
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amount of the entry to market charges and contains arrangements for the
indexation of these amounts on an annual basis. The amounts of the entry to
market charges, the indexation arrangements for those amounts, and the due
dates for the payment of entry to market charges, are unchanged from the
current Registration Charges Act.
Detailed explanation
Education Services for Overseas Students (Registration Charges)
Act 1997
Item 1
This item substitutes section 6 of the Registration Charges Act.
New subsection 6(1) provides that a provider is liable to pay three entry to
market charges in accordance with section 6 if all of the following apply:
the provider makes an application under the ESOS Act to become
registered to provide a course or courses at a location or locations to
overseas students;
the provider meets the ESOS Act registration requirements (other than
the registration requirement set out in subparagraph 11(g)(i) of the
ESOS Act, which itself relates to payment of the entry to market
charge);
at the time the provider meets those requirements, the provider is not
registered under the ESOS Act to provide any courses at any locations;
and
the provider is not in a class of providers that are exempt from the entry
to market charges requirements under the Registration Charges
Regulations.
Entry to market charges are as follows:
the first entry to market charge is $7998 - payable before a provider
can be registered to provide a course at a location (new subsections
6(2) and (3));
the second entry to market charge is $5332 - if the provider is still
registered to provide the course or courses at a location or locations on
the first anniversary day, payable at the end of that day (new
subsections 6(4) and (5)); and
the third entry to market charge is $2666 - if the provider is still
registered to provide the course or courses at a location or locations on
the second anniversary day, payable at the end of that day (new
subsections 6(6) and (7)).
The amounts of the entry to market charges set out in the new section 6 are
the amounts in 2015. These amounts are indexed every year under section 7
of the Registration Charges Act.
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New subsection 6(8) provides that, if the provider's first registration is
renewed, continued or extended under the ESOS Act for a period of time and
the first anniversary day or second anniversary day falls within that period of
time - then the provider is taken, for section 6 purposes, to be still registered
to provide the course at the location on that day.
Under new subsection 6(9), the Registration Charges Regulations can
prescribe that certain classes of providers are exempt from the requirement to
pay the entry to market charges imposed by section 8. Note that item 5 of the
Bill saves the existing Registration Charges Regulations, which are made for
the current subsection 6(4) of the Registration Charges Act.
New subsection 6(10) defines the following for the purposes of section 6:
"first anniversary day" means the first anniversary of the day when the
provider's period of registration started; and
"second anniversary day" means the second anniversary of the day
when the provider's period of registration started.
Items 2 and 3
Section 7 of the Registration Charges Act provides for the indexation of
annual registration charges and entry to market charges. This indexation
occurs every year "after the initial year" (subsections 7(1) and (1A)).
Item 3 substitutes subsection 7(6), which defines "initial year" for the
purposes of section 7. Under the new definition, "initial year" for the purposes
of section 7 means:
for the annual registration charge - the first calendar year in which
dollar amounts that are specified in subsection 5(2) are imposed under
section 8; or
for an entry to market charge - 2015.
The setting of 2015 as the initial year for the entry to market charge means
that indexation of the amounts of entry to market charges (set out in new
subsections 6(2), (4) and (6)) will start from 2016. When the Bill commences
on 1 July 2016, the amounts set out in new subsections 6(2), (4) and (6) will
be immediately indexed under section 7 as amended, giving new amounts for
2016.
Item 2 makes consequential amendments to the indexation formula in
subsection 7(2) to remove the reference to column 1 of the table in subsection
6(2) (as section 6 is being substituted) and, instead, inserting references to
new subsections 6(2), (4) or (6).
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Item 4
Item 4 is a transitional provision that makes it clear that a provider that is
liable to pay entry to market charges immediately before commencement of
the Bill continues to be liable to pay those charges after commencement, in
accordance with the Registration Charges Act as amended by the Bill. As the
Bill will not change either the amounts or timing for payment of entry to market
charges, this will have no adverse effect on liable providers.
Item 5
Item 5 is a saving provision that ensures that regulations made for the
purposes of subsection 6(4) of the Registration Charges Act before
commencement of this item continue to have effect after commencement as if
they were regulations made for subsection 6(9) of the Act. In short, the
regulations that currently specify the classes of provider that are exempt from
having to pay entry to market charges will continue to exempt those providers
after commencement of the Bill, notwithstanding the repeal and replacement
of section 6 of the Act.
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