Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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QUARANTINE AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2003 (NO. 2) 2003 NO. 335

Section 87 of the Quarantine Act 1908 ("the Act") provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters which by the Act are required or permitted to be prescribed or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

Section 27A of the Act requires masters of overseas vessels or installations to cause prescribed information for pre-arrival and pre-departure reports to be submitted before arrival or departure, as appropriate, in a form approved by the Director of Quarantine. An installation is a man-made structure that can be used for activities such as tourism, marine archaeology or exploiting natural resources. Subregulation 10(1) of the Quarantine Regulations 2000 ("the Principal Regulations") sets out the prescribed pre-arrival information that must be provided by masters of overseas vessels and installations.

Section 28 of the Act provides that a quarantine officer may require a master or medical officer to answer questions about any prescribed matters relevant to an overseas vessel or installation. Regulation 18 of the Principal Regulations sets out the matters about which masters or medical officers must answer questions.

The purpose of the proposed Regulations is to extend the information required to be provided under subregulation 10(1) and regulation 18 of the Principal Regulations, to take account of changes in circumstances concerning the potential quarantine threat for plants and animals.

Details of the proposed Regulations are set out below:

Regulation 1 provides that the Regulations are named the Quarantine Amendment Regulations 2003 (No. 2).

Regulation 2 provides that the Regulations commence on 1 March 2004.

Regulation 3 provides that Schedule 1 of the Regulations amends the Quarantine Regulations 2000.

Schedule 1 - Amendments

Item 1 substitutes a new item 5 in the table of subregulation 10(1). Subregulation 10(1) prescribes information that masters of vessels or installations are required to provide for the purpose of section 27A of the Act. The new item 5 prescribes information regarding the estimated time of arrival at a berth and the estimated time of anchorage at a place. The effect of this amendment is to allow separate dates and times to be reported by a master of a vessel or installation depending on whether the vessel or installation is to dock at anchorage and/or berth in port.

Item 2 inserts an additional requirement in item 6A of the table in subregulation 10(1) prescribing information regarding the number of crew signing off at a port. The purpose of this amendment and the amendment below is to alert quarantine officers to the fact that goods, which may potentially carry posts or diseases of quarantine concern, could be brought off vessels or installations by disembarking crew members or passengers.

Item 3 inserts a new item under item 6A of the table in subregulation 10(1) prescribing information regarding the port at which passengers will disembark (if intending to disembark) and the number of passengers disembarking.

Item 4 substitutes a new item 7 in the table of subregulation 10(1). This item prescribes information about whether the vessel or installation has visited a Russian Far East Port between the beginning of July and the end of September in the previous 24 months within the latitude of 35º North and 65º North and west of the meridian of longitude 147º East. This information is required to determine the quarantine threat from Asian Gypsy Moth, which is found in the zone. The amendment reduces the zone referenced in the replaced item 7 by excluding the Kamchatka Peninsula. This is reflected by the new reference to `west of the meridian of longitude 147º East'.

Item 5 increases the scope of item 8 of the table in subregulation 10(1) by prescribing information about whether the vessel or installation carried livestock, grain, or meal (being meal that contains plant or animal, including fish or bird, material) in any of its last 10 cargoes. The purpose of this amendment is to address the contamination risk posed by livestock, grain or meal carried on a vessel or installation, as the previous item 8 of the table in subregulation 10(1) only prescribed information on livestock or grain carried by a vessel or installation in the previous six cargoes.

Item 6 expands the scope of item 8A in the table of subregulation 10(1) by increasing the reporting requirements for vessels or installations, which have carried livestock, grain and meal in any of its last 10 cargoes. The purpose of the amendment is to prescribe information about where these cargoes were loaded, where they were discharged and the cleaning that was subsequently undertaken on the vessel or installation. This will allow quarantine officers to determine whether the vessel, installation or its cargo may pose a quarantine threat to Australia.

Item 7 inserts an additional requirement in item 6A of the table in regulation 18. Regulation 18 prescribes information that quarantine officers may require masters or medical officers to answer. The amendments described in items 7 to 11 of the proposed Regulations mirror the amendments described in items 2 to 6. The additional requirement in item 6A of the table in regulation 18 prescribes information regarding the number of crew members signing off at a port. The purpose of this amendment and the amendment below is to alert quarantine officers to the fact that goods, which may potentially carry posts or diseases of quarantine concern, could be brought off vessels or installations by disembarking crew members or passengers.

Item 8 mirrors the amendment described in item 3 above by inserting an additional item after item 6A of the table in regulation 18 to prescribe information regarding the port at which passengers will disembark (if intending to disembark) and the number of passengers disembarking.

Item 9 mirrors the amendment described in item 4 above by substituting a new item 7 in the table of regulation 18. This new item prescribes information about whether the vessel or installation has visited a Russian Far East Port between the beginning of July and the end of September in the previous 24 months within the latitude of 35º North and 65º North and west of the meridian of longitude 147º East. This information is required to determine the quarantine threat from Asian Gypsy Moth, which is found in the zone. The amendment reduces the zone referenced in the replaced item 7 by excluding the Kamchatka Peninsula. This is reflected by the new reference to `west of the meridian of longitude 147º East'.

Item 10 mirrors the amendment described in item 5 above by increasing the scope of item 8 in the table of regulation 18 by prescribing information about whether the vessel or installation carried livestock, grain, or meal (being meal that contains plant or animal, including fish or bird, material) in any of its last 10 cargoes. The purpose of this amendment is to address the contamination risk posed by livestock, grain or meal carried on a vessel or installation, as the previous item 8 in the table of regulation 18 only prescribed information about whether the vessel or installation carried livestock or grain in the previous six cargoes.

Item 11 mirrors the amendment described in item 6 above by expanding the scope of item 8A in the table of regulation 18. This item increases the prescribed information for vessels or installations, which have carried livestock, grain and meal in any of its last 10 cargoes. The purpose of the amendment is to prescribe information about where the cargoes were loaded, where they were discharged and the cleaning that was subsequently undertaken on the vessel or installation. This amendment will allow quarantine officers to determine whether the vessel, installation or its cargo may pose a quarantine threat to Australia.