Commonwealth act

Customs Tariff Validation Act 1931

RepealedCTH

This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.

Jurisdiction

Commonwealth

Act Number

53 of 1931

Collection

act

Plain English Summary

2/10 complexity

This Act makes legal the customs duties (taxes on imported goods) that were collected between 1929 and 1931 based on government proposals rather than finalized laws.

Normally, taxes must be set by Acts of Parliament before they can be collected. However, this legislation retroactively validates duties that were demanded and paid under various Customs Tariff proposals introduced into the House of Representatives on nine specific dates between November 1929 and July 1931.

Key points:

It covers duties collected up until 29 February 1932 (or until the House of Representatives was dissolved)
It does not cover "primage duty" (an additional import tax) or "special duty" (specific targeted taxes)
Once validated, these collections are deemed to have been "lawfully imposed and lawfully demanded" from the start

This prevents the government from having to refund money to importers who paid duties before the formal legislation was passed.

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Current sections

Direct links to the current provisions in Customs Tariff Validation Act 1931.

Customs Tariff Validation Act 1931

CUSTOMS TARIFF VALIDATION.

No. 53 of 1931.

An Act to provide for the Validation of Collections of Duties of Customs under Customs Tariff Proposals.

[Assented to 26th November, 1931.]

BE it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:—

Short title.

This Act may be cited as the Customs Tariff Validation Act 1931.

Definition.

In this Act “Customs Tariff proposals” means the proposed duties of Customs introduced into the House of Representatives on the following dates, namely:—

21st November, 1929;

11th December, 1929;

19th June, 1930;

9th July, 1930;

25th July, 1930;

5th November, 1930;

3rd December, 1930;

26th March, 1931; and

29th July, 1931;

and includes any amendments made in the House of Representatives to the proposed duties of Customs introduced into that House on the twenty-sixth day of March One thousand nine hundred and thirty-one, but does not include any proposal for the imposition of primage duty or special duty of Customs.

Validation of collections under Tariff proposals.

All duties of Customs demanded or collected (whether before the dissolution or expiry of the present House of Representatives or at or after such dissolution or expiry and on or before the twenty-ninth day of February One thousand nine hundred and thirty-two) pursuant to the Customs Tariff proposals specified in the last preceding section shall be deemed to have been lawfully imposed and lawfully demanded or collected.

Source text

Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.

1 Customs Tariff Validation Act 1931