 Tuesday, April 11, 2006 End of Moratorium for Penalties on Cargo Reporting
Dear {Firstname},
Members are advised that Customs have issued ACN2006/17 which sets out their approach to managing cargo reporting.
It alerts members that the moratorium that applied to cargo reporting penalties under the Infringement Notice Scheme will end on the 12th April 2006.
Despite representations from AFIF & CBFCA, Customs has decided not to extend the moratorium. It has however noted issues that arose as the result of the 12 October 2005 cutover and which may, as the result of inadvertent errors, give rise to Infringement Notices.
From 13th April onwards penalties can be issued for breaches of cargo reporting compliance. The ACN reinforces the fact that the penalties are discretionary and will only be issued in accordance with the Infringement Notice Guidelines. It should be noted that Customs see that information on these issues has been in the public domain for several years and that industry should be aware ot the impact of the legislation.
Both AFIF and the CBFCA provided comment on the redrafted Infringement Notice Guidelines to ensure they reflect the philosophy that those companies who can demonstrate that they have taken reasonable steps to be complaint should not be penalised. This is not to say that continued non compliance, even with reasonable steps, will not see Infringement Notices issued.
A draft of the new guidelines is available from the Customs website at
Customs decision not to extend the moratorium is based on the premise that those companies who are making genuine attempts to be compliant (particularly with the opportunity of six months of preparation) should not be exposed to penalties under the Guidelines. Also that Customs are not prepared to extend the moratorium to allow the continuance of non compliant practice by those companies who appear to be making little or no attempt to comply.
AFIF believe that the redrafted guidelines protect companies who are genuinely attempting to be compliant from penalties for actions that are outside of the control of the company.
We have informed the CEO of Customs that we expect equity, uniformity and consistency applied by all regions around Australia and that we will be monitoring this situation closely. We would appreciate your feedback on any deemed unfair treatment.
Please advise all concerned Thanks and regards,
Brian Lovell Chief Executive Officer
Australian Federation of International Forwarders Ltd (AFIF) Suite 403, Level 3
152 Bunnerong Road Eastgardens NSW 2036 Tel: (61 2) 9314 3055 Fax: (61 2) 9314 3116 |