Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition supports the Customs Tariff Amendment (Incorporation of Proposals) Bill 2009, which is to amend the Customs Tariff Act 1995 to incorporate alterations that have been considered in customs tariff proposals tabled in the House of Representatives during 2009. There are three customs tariff proposals, and they are these. Customs tariff proposal No. 1 is to create a new concessional item 41H in schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act. Customs tariff proposal No. 2 is to amend rates of customs duty for certain alcohol and tobacco products in schedule 7 of the customs tariff, Chilean originating goods. Customs tariff proposal No. 4 is to amend rates of customs duty for certain beer and grape wine products.

Schedule 1 of the bill creates a new concessional item, 41H, in schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act. Item 41H provides duty free entry to Australia for goods for use in the testing, quality control, manufacturing, evaluation or engineering development of motor vehicles designed or engineered in Australia but not necessarily manufactured in Australia. The new item will encourage automotive manufacturers to undertake design and engineering work for the international automotive market, as well as reduce administrative costs in importing such equipment. Schedule 2 of the bill amends rates of duty for certain alcohol and tobacco products that are imported under the Australia-Chile free trade agreement.

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