Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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FISHERIES RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2000 (NO. 1) 2000 NO. 270

STATUTORY RULES 2000 No. 270

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Primary Industries and Energy Research and Development Act 1989

Fisheries Research and Development Corporation Amendment Regulations 2000 (No. 1)

Section 149 of the Primary Industries and Energy Research and Development Act 1989 (the PIERD Act) empowers the Governor-General to make regulations for the purposes of the PIERD Act.

Section 8 of the PIERD Act provides for research and development corporations (referred to in the PIERD Act as R & D Corporations) to be established and named by way of regulations. Sections 11 and 12 of the PIERD Act set out the functions and powers respectively of R & D Corporations.

Subsection 5(1) of the PIERD Act provides, among other things, for the attachment of levies to an R & D Corporation by way of regulations. Subsection 5(3) among other things requires that, if levy is attached to an R & D Corporation, then the regulations must declare:

*       the whole or a specified portion of the levy to be the research component of the levy; and

*       the primary industry to which the levy relates, being a primary industry in respect of which the R & D Corporation is established.

Section 30A of the PIERD Act provides that, among other things, the research component of a levy attached to an R & D Corporation established in respect of the fishing industry must be paid to the R & D Corporation.

The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation Regulations (the principal Regulations) provide for the establishment of the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) in respect of the fishing industry. The principal Regulations also attach particular levies to the FRDC and specify the research components of those levies in a particular year.

The levies and research components currently specified in the principal Regulations relate to the 1996/97 financial year. It is not possible to calculate the research components for a financial year until after the close of that financial year, as it is not known until then how much levy has been collected in the financial year. However, the principal Regulations have not been updated in recent years.

The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation Amendment Regulations (the Regulations):

amend the principal Regulations to set the research components for the levies attached to the FRDC for the 1997/98 and 1998/99 financial years at 9.5% and 7.2% respectively. This reflects the results of reconciliations carried out by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority of levy collections and payments of research components to the FRDC for the 1997/98 and 1998/99 financial years and represents the fishing industry's actual contributions to the funding of the FRDC in accordance with current Government policy; and

*       correct an incorrect commencement date for amendments made relating to the 1996/97 financial year.

The Regulations are taken to have commenced on 1 July 1997 and 1 July 1998 for the provisions relating to those years respectively so that the matters referred to in them would properly relate to the appropriate period. The Attorney General's Department has previously provided oral advice that such a retrospective commencement is both legally valid and, from a policy perspective, acceptable.

The advice takes account of subsection 48(2) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, which provides that retrospective commencement of legislation (at a time before it is notified in the Gazette) is ineffective if it would:

*       result in the rights of a person (other than the Commonwealth or an authority of the Commonwealth) being affected so as to disadvantage that person; or

*       impose liabilities on the person in respect of anything done or omitted to be done before the retrospective commencement of the legislation is notified.

As the matters in the Regulations only affect payments between the Commonwealth and Commonwealth authorities in respect of levies already collected, subsection 48(2) does not apply.

Details of the Regulations are set out below:

Regulation 1 provides that these regulations are named the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation Amendment Regulations 1999 (No. 1).

Regulation 2 states that regulations 1 to 3 and Schedule 1 are taken to have commenced on 1 July 1997, Schedule 2 is taken to have commenced on 1 July 1998 and regulation 4 and Schedule 3 commence on gazettal.

Regulation 3 states that Schedules 1 and 2 amend the principal Regulations.

Regulation 4 states that Schedule 3 amends the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation Regulations (Amendment) (Statutory Rules 1998 No. 90).

Schedule 1 Item 1 inserts the research component of levy for the financial year beginning 1 July 1997.

Schedule 2 Item 1 inserts the research component of levy for the financial year beginning 1 July 1998.

Schedule 3 Item 1 substitutes the correct commencement date for the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation Regulations (Amendment) (Statutory Rules 1998 No. 90).