EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

 

Select Legislative Instrument 2009 No. 27

 

 

Issued under the authority of the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government

 

Protection of the Sea (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) Act 1983

 

Protection of the Sea (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) (Orders) Amendment Regulations 2009 (No. 1)

 

The Protection of the Sea (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) Act 1983 (the POTS Act) implements in Australia the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships which is intended to prevent the pollution of the marine environment by ships.

 

Subsection 33(1) of the POTS Act provides that the Governor‑General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

 

Section 34 of the POTS Act provides that the Australian Maritime Safety Authority may make orders with respect to any matter for or in relation to which provision may be made by regulations, other than the imposition of penalties.

 

The Protection of the Sea Legislation Amendment Act 2008 amended paragraph 33(1)(f) of the POTS Act to increase the maximum penalty that may be prescribed for a contravention of a provision of the regulations or of any of the orders made under section 34 from 30 penalty units to 50 penalty units.

 

Regulation 4 of the Principal Regulations previously prescribed a penalty of 20 penalty units or, in the case of a body corporate, 50 penalty units for a breach of a provision of an order that is expressed to be a penal provision. The amending regulations increased that penalty to 50 penalty units, the maximum permitted under the amended paragraph 33(1)(f) of the POTS Act.

 

The amending Regulations are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

 

No formal consultation was undertaken in relation to these amendments as they are of a minor or machinery nature and do not substantially alter existing arrangements.

 

The amending Regulations commenced on the day after they were registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.