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Commonwealth act
This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.
This is a short validation act — a type of law that retrospectively (going back in time) declares that something the government did was legal, even if there was doubt about its legal authority at the time.
Background: In Australia, new or changed customs duties (taxes on imported goods) are often announced by the government before the formal law changing them has been fully passed through Parliament. During that gap, customs officials collect duties based on these announcements (called "Tariff Proposals" — essentially draft tariff changes tabled in the House of Representatives). Technically, collecting taxes under rules that aren't yet law could be challenged as unlawful.
What this Act fixes: This law declares that all customs duties collected under six specific Tariff Proposals — tabled on 26 September 1951 and 13 November 1951 — were, and always were, completely lawful. This covers:
Who is affected?
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Direct links to the current provisions in Customs Tariff Validation Act (No. 2) 1951.
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View on official registerSourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
The time window covered: Any duty collected on or before 31 October 1952 under these proposals is validated — whether collected before or after this Act came into force.
Why it matters: Without this kind of validation law, importers could potentially sue the government for a refund of duties paid under rules that weren't technically law yet. This Act closes that door firmly.