Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Manufacture Levy) Act 1995

Several core legal and operational concepts carry the Act’s effect. Definitions and cross‑references determine scope, while the levy regime itself rests on licence status, reporting periods, quantities manufactured, prescribed rates and regulatory discretions.

• Controlled substances licence as trigger. The levy attaches only when a controlled substances licence "allows the licensee to manufacture" a scheduled substance and manufacture actually occurs during a reporting period in which the licence is in force (s 3A(1); s 4(1)). The Act directs that, in deciding whether the licence allows the activity, any suspension of the licence is to be disregarded (s 3(3)). The Act elsewhere relies on the Management Act for the meaning of many terms (s 3(1)-(2)).
• Reporting period concept. Levies are assessed in respect of manufacture during reporting periods. If a licence is in force for part of a reporting period, that part "is taken to be a reporting period" for levy purposes (s 3A(4); s 4(3)). This means partial periods of licence force still create levy exposure for manufacture in that interval.
• Quantity measurement and heel allowance. The quantity taken to be manufactured is the quantity actually manufactured reduced by the heel allowance percentage for the substance (s 3A(4B); s 4(3A)). The heel allowance percentage is therefore a regulatory parameter that reduces the taxable base.
• Levy calculation for SGGs. For synthetic greenhouse gases that are bulk scheduled substances the levy is the product of the number of tonnes of the SGG and a prescribed rate (s 3A(5); definition of prescribed rate in s 3A(5)). The prescribed rate is to be set by regulations, subject to ministerial preconditions (s 3A(12), table item 2).
• Levy calculation for other scheduled substances. For scheduled substances other than SGGs the Act does not fix a formula; instead the amount is the figure prescribed or calculated in accordance with a prescribed method in regulations (s 4(4)). The Minister must be satisfied that the effect of this Act and the Import Levy Act will be to recover no more than specified Commonwealth costs before making such regulations (s 4(5)-(6); cross‑ref s 3A(12) table).
• Exemptions and Ministerial discretion. The Minister may exempt a licensee from levy for SGGs used in or in manufacture of medical equipment, or other prescribed equipment or purposes (s 3A(7)). The Minister’s decision‑making must have regard to matters specified in regulations (s 3A(9)). The Minister may delegate the power, and delegates must comply with written directions (s 3A(10)-(11)).
• Regulatory preconditions. Section 3A(12) requires the Minister to be satisfied of specified matters prior to the Governor‑General making regulations for certain listed provisions. The table spells out the matters the Minister must be satisfied of for each relevant provision. These preconditions link regulatory design to policy thresholds such as impracticability of imposing levy for certain purposes or limiting levy to recover no more than particular Commonwealth costs (s 3A(12), table items 1-3).
• Cross‑legislation and delegated design. The Act relies on delegation to regulations for rates, heel allowance percentages and other details, and cross‑references the Import Levy Act and the Management Act for scope and meaning (s 2A; s 3; s 5). Regulations are authorised by s 5 and must meet the Ministerial satisfactions in s 3A(12) where applicable.

Those concepts create the operational levers: licence status, reporting periods, measured production minus heel allowance, rates or prescribed amounts set in regulations, and ministerial delegation and exemption. The Act specifies who decides particular things (Minister, delegated officials, Governor‑General by regulations) and ties several regulatory choices to specific preconditions the Minister must be satisfied of before committing them to regulation (s 3A(10)-(12); s 5).

The Act operates primarily on holders of controlled substances licences that allow manufacture of scheduled substances, with distinct treatment for synthetic greenhouse gases (SGGs) and other scheduled substances. Specific affected parties are:

• Licensees who hold controlled substances licences that allow manufacturing activities. The levy attaches when such a licence allows manufacture and the licensee manufactures during a reporting period in which the licence is in force (s 3A(1); s 4(1)). The Act requires licence‑holders to be aware of the licence’s authorisations because levy liability flows from licence permissions, not merely from the activity in isolation.
• Licensees manufacturing bulk scheduled substances. The levy provisions apply only to the manufacture of scheduled substances that are bulk scheduled substances, as noted in the Act (see notes in s 3A(1) and s 4(1), which reference subsection 3(2) of this Act and subsection 9(1) of the Management Act). The Management Act’s schedule definitions therefore shape which products fall within the levy regime.
• Manufacturers of SGGs in particular. SGG manufacturers face a defined formula‑based levy: a quantity times a prescribed rate (s 3A(5)). They must apply the heel allowance percentage to their quantities (s 3A(4B)). They also have a formal exemption path where the Minister may exempt manufacture for certain uses (s 3A(7)-(9)).
• Manufacturers of substances other than SGGs. Licensees who manufacture scheduled substances other than SGGs are liable for levy determined under regulations rather than the formula in s 3A(5) (s 4(4)). The Minister must be satisfied regarding cost recovery limits before regulations fixing the levy amount or method are made (s 4(5)-(6)).
• Entities relying on medical, veterinary, health or safety uses. The Act contemplates exempting SGG manufacture where the SGG is to be used in medical equipment, in the manufacture of medical equipment, or in equipment of a kind prescribed for certain Management Act paragraphs (s 3A(7)). The Minister must consider matters in regulations when making such an exemption decision (s 3A(9)). The table in s 3A(12) requires the Minister to be satisfied, prior to making regulations prescribing exempted purposes, that it would be impracticable to impose levy for those purposes or that those purposes are medical, veterinary, health or safety in nature (s 3A(12), table item 1 and item 3).
• The Commonwealth executive and specified officials. The Minister has discretion to exempt and to make requisite regulatory satisfactions; the Minister may delegate the power to the Secretary or senior departmental employees (s 3A(10)). Delegates must comply with written directions from the Minister (s 3A(11)). The Governor‑General makes regulations under s 5, acting on the Executive’s proposal.
• Parties affected by regulatory design choices. Because the Act sets design elements to be supplied by regulation , rates, heel allowance percentage, methods, prescribed exemptions and prescribed equipment or purposes , any person or business whose manufacture, procurement, supply chain or product costs depend on those variables will be affected by regulatory detail once made under s 5.

The Act therefore concentrates direct fiscal obligations on licensed manufacturers of bulk scheduled substances, with the precise incidence and quantum of levy dependent on regulations and on ministerial determinations or exemptions. The inclusion of a nil amount in the definition of "amount" (s 2A) means regulations could prescribe a nil levy in theory, although s 3A(12) requires ministerial satisfaction before setting rates and other regulatory matters.

The Act creates duties on licence‑holders to pay manufacture levy where applicable, and gives rights and decision routes to the Minister and delegates. Key duties, rights and procedural features are:

Duties of licensees

• Liability to pay levy. If a controlled substances licence allows manufacture and manufacture occurs during a reporting period in which the licence is in force, levy is imposed on the licensee in respect of that manufacture (s 3A(1); s 4(1)). Licensees therefore have an ongoing duty to compute and discharge any levy that applies to their manufacturing activity in reporting periods.
• Quantity accounting and heel allowance. Licensees must measure the quantity actually manufactured and apply the heel allowance percentage reduction to determine the quantity taken to be manufactured for levy purposes (s 3A(4B); s 4(3A)). This requires record‑keeping capable of showing quantities produced and the application of the specified percentage.
• Reporting period awareness. A part of a reporting period in which a licence is in force is taken to be a reporting period for levy purposes (s 3A(4); s 4(3)). Licensees must therefore treat partial periods of licence force as discrete levy periods for any manufacture therein.
• Compliance with regulations. The levy amount and calculation methods for most substances are to be prescribed by regulations (s 3A(5); s 4(4)). Licensees must monitor and follow those regulations when they are made.

Ministerial and administrative rights and powers

• Exemption power. The Minister may, by written notice given to a licensee, determine that the licensee is exempt from SGG levy where the SGG is to be used in medical equipment, in manufacture of medical equipment, in prescribed equipment, or for prescribed purposes (s 3A(7)). The Minister must consider matters specified in regulations when making such determinations (s 3A(9)).
• Delegation of exemption power. The Minister may delegate the power under s 3A(7) to the Secretary, an SES employee, or an APS EL2 equivalent employee in the Department (s 3A(10)). Delegates must comply with written directions from the Minister when exercising delegated powers (s 3A(11)).
• Regulatory preconditions. Before making certain regulations the Minister must be satisfied of specified matters (s 3A(12) and its table). These preconditions constrain the Minister and inform the regulatory design exercise, for example by linking prescribed rates to recovery of specified Commonwealth costs (s 3A(12), table item 2).

Rights of licensees and others

• Exemption application expectation. While the Act does not lay out an application procedure in the quoted text, it creates a right for the Minister to grant exemptions and imposes a requirement that, in making such a determination, the Minister have regard to matters specified in regulations (s 3A(7), (9)). Licensees therefore have an administrative route to seek relief where the circumstances fall within the listed grounds.
• Delegation oversight. Because the Minister may delegate decision‑making to senior departmental staff (s 3A(10)-(11)), licensees have the practical right to interact with delegated officials rather than the Minister personally.
• Regulatory reliance. Licensees may rely on rates and methods prescribed in regulations to calculate levy once those regulations are made; those regulations will be subject to the Minister’s preconditions where the Act requires them (s 3A(12)).

Procedural constraints and design parameters

• Cross‑reference to the Management Act for definitions. The Act expressly makes expressions used have the same meaning as in the Management Act, and applies section 9 of the Management Act for references to scheduled substances and equipment (s 3(1)-(2)). That cross‑reference means rights and duties deriving from the Act depend on how the Management Act defines scheduled substances, equipment and related terms.
• Regulation‑making power. The Governor‑General may make regulations necessary to carry out the Act (s 5). The Minister must be satisfied of specified matters before certain regulations are made (s 3A(12)). Those two provisions allocate detailed implementation to delegated (regulatory) instruments while tying certain regulatory content to ministerial satisfaction.

Notably, the supply of enforcement mechanisms, penalty provisions and collection rules is not present in the supplied text. The Act therefore imposes substantive levy liabilities and delegations but relies on regulations and cross‑referenced Acts for procedural and definitional detail.

The supplied text of the Act does not set out offences, criminal penalties, administrative sanctions or explicit collection or enforcement procedures for unpaid levy. The Act is limited to creating levy liabilities, defining when those liabilities arise and delegating rate and method specification to the regulations (s 3A(1)-(5); s 4(1), (4)). Consequently, the enforcement and penalty architecture must be understood as follows from the source:

• No penalty provisions in this text. The extracts provided do not contain any express criminal offences, civil penalties, compounding provisions, debt recovery mechanisms or compliance notices. The Act’s levy provisions therefore create a substantive obligation but do not, in the text supplied, set out how failure to comply will be enforced or penalised.
• Reliance on regulations or other Acts for enforcement. Section 5 grants the Governor‑General power to make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act or necessary to give effect to it (s 5). Enforcement mechanisms, timeframes for payment, interest, notices, remission and appeal processes are typical subjects for regulations; the Act’s silence on enforcement implies those mechanisms are intended to be provided in the regulations or in cross‑referenced legislation such as the Management Act or the Import Levy Act. The Act explicitly cross‑references the Management Act for meanings (s 3(1)-(2)), and s 3(3) directs how suspensions are treated in determining whether a licence allows an activity, with a note pointing to subsection 19D(4) of the Management Act for the effect of a licence suspension. That indicates enforcement and licence administration matters remain largely within the Management Act framework.
• Ministerial discretion but not enforcement. The Minister may exempt licensees from levy in prescribed circumstances (s 3A(7)); the Act permits delegation of exemption powers (s 3A(10)) and requires delegates to follow ministerial directions (s 3A(11)). Those are administrative powers rather than punitive measures.
• Preconditioned regulatory design. The Minister must be satisfied of particular matters before regulations are made for specific provisions (s 3A(12) table). One precondition links prescribed rates to recovery of the Commonwealth’s likely costs identified in paragraph 65D of the Management Act (s 3A(12), table item 2), effectively constraining the permissible level of levy but not setting enforcement means.
• Practical enforcement gap in the text. Because the Act text provided does not specify penalty, interest, recovery, objection or review processes, practitioners should expect to find enforcement and penalty detail either in the regulations made under s 5, in the Import Levy Act (which the Act cross‑references, s 2A), or in the Management Act and its regulatory instruments. For compliance and risk assessment, the absence of enforcement provisions in these sections means one must consult the regulations and cross‑referenced statutes to determine the concrete sanctions or debt recovery procedures that will apply in practice.

In sum, the Act establishes levy liabilities and administrative delegation routes but does not itself set out penalties or collection mechanisms in the supplied text; enforcement depends on regulations and cross‑referenced legislation.

The Act is explicitly designed to operate in tandem with at least two other statutory instruments and to import their definitions and scheduling rules. The supplied text creates multiple cross‑links:

• Management Act dependence. Section 3(1) stipulates that an expression used in this Act has the same meaning as in the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989 (the Management Act). Section 3(2) specifically applies section 9 of the Management Act in relation to this Act "in the same way as that section applies in relation to the Management Act", meaning the Act’s notion of scheduled substances and equipment is governed by the Management Act’s schedules and definitions. Practically, whether a substance is covered, and whether it is a bulk scheduled substance, must be determined by reference to the Management Act (see notes in s 3A(1) and s 4(1) referencing subsection 3(2) of this Act and subsection 9(1) of the Management Act).
• Import Levy Act link. The Act defines "Import Levy Act" as the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Import Levy) Act 1995 in s 2A, and places a substantive requirement on the Minister before making regulations for the prescribed rate that the effect of this Act and the Import Levy Act will be to recover no more than certain Commonwealth costs (s 3A(12), table item 2). Section 4(5)-(6) also requires the Minister to be satisfied that the effect of this Act and the Import Levy Act will recover no more than the Commonwealth’s likely costs specified in paragraph 65D(a), (b), (c) or (ca) of the Management Act, disregarding costs likely to be offset by fees charged under the Management Act or its regulations. That creates a statutory linkage between manufacturing levies and import levies, directing that the two levies together should be constrained to recover particular categories of Commonwealth costs.
• References to Management Act cost categories. The Act refers to paragraph 65D(a), (b), (c) or (ca) of the Management Act as the kinds of Commonwealth costs the levies may recover (s 3A(12) table item 2; s 4(5)). The Act thereby ties levy design to cost recovery of specific administrative or regulatory costs articulated in the Management Act. Any practitioner designing or assessing regulations must consult paragraph 65D of the Management Act to identify the precise costs that the levy system may be targeted to recover.
• Delegation and statutory interpretation. The Act references general delegation provisions in the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (s 3A(10) note: sections 34AA to 34A contain provisions relating to delegations). The Act’s delegation of exemption power to the Secretary, SES employees or EL2 equivalent employees (s 3A(10)) must therefore be exercised consistent with delegated‑power rules under the Acts Interpretation Act.
• Reliance on regulations. Section 5 authorises the Governor‑General to make regulations that are required or permitted by the Act or necessary to carry it into effect (s 5). Because the Act leaves the determination of prescribed rates, methods, heel allowance percentages and prescribed purposes or equipment to the regulations (s 3A(5); s 4(4); s 3A(7), (9)), the regulatory instruments will define operational interaction points with other statutory regimes, including taxation, customs, environmental licensing and administrative law (review and merits processes), insofar as they are referenced or incorporated in those regulations.
• Licence suspension interaction. Section 3(3) directs that in determining whether a licence allows an activity, any suspension of the licence is to be disregarded. The Act’s Note points readers to subsection 19D(4) of the Management Act "for the effect of a licence suspension." That indicates an intended interaction: the Management Act governs the consequences of licence suspension, but for levy‑triggering purposes a suspension does not prevent the licence from being regarded as allowing manufacture (s 3(3)), which affects the timing of levy liabilities.
• No separate enforcement text in this Act. Because the Act itself does not set out enforcement or penalty provisions in the supplied excerpts, enforcement and recovery procedures are likely to be found in the Management Act, the Import Levy Act or in regulations made under s 5. Practitioners must therefore coordinate compliance and enforcement analysis across these instruments.

Overall, the Act is structurally dependent on the Management Act and the Import Levy Act for definitions, scope and cost recovery constraints, and leaves significant operational detail to regulations. Any legal analysis or compliance program must therefore incorporate the Management Act schedules (to determine which substances and equipment are captured), the Import Levy Act (for combined levy effects), and the regulations made under this Act.

The supplied text contains only the Act’s short title and commencement provision and does not include an amendment history or records of later modifications. The statutory extract specifies:

• Short title: Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Manufacture Levy) Act 1995 (s 1).
• Commencement: 1 January 1996 (s 2).
• Definitions and operative provisions as reproduced in this text (s 2A; s 3; ss 3A-5).

No further amendment clauses, schedules of amendments, repeals, transitional provisions, or dates of subsequent changes appear in the material provided. Therefore, the following are the constraints on what can be stated from the source:

• There is no text in this extract indicating that any sections have been amended, repealed, re‑lettered or otherwise changed since commencement. The Act as presented should be read as the statutory instrument in force as at its commencement, but the extract does not show any notation of later amendments.
• There are no savings, transitional or validation clauses included in the supplied parts of the Act. If such clauses exist in the full Act or in amending instruments, they are not in the text provided here.
• Any assertion about amendments made after the original enactment, or about the present consolidated form of the Act, would be outside the supplied source and therefore not supportable on the text given.

For practitioners needing the amendment history for due diligence, legislative drafting, or advice, the immediate implication of the source is that one must consult the statutory compilation, Government Gazette notices, or an official consolidated version of the Act to identify whether any parts of the Act have been amended since commencement. The extract itself establishes the original 1995 Act text and commencement date but does not provide a chronology beyond that initial state.

The text supplied includes no references to judicial decisions, litigation, appeals or case law construing the Act. The provisions reproduced do not cite any cases, nor does the content include notes of relevant judicial interpretation, declaratory relief, or any recorded litigation history.

Consequently, based solely on the source text provided:

• There is no litigation history recorded within these provisions. The Act extract does not list cases, references to authoritative determinations, or illustrative adjudications.
• The Act’s interaction with administrative decision‑making (for example, the Minister’s exemption powers and delegation) establishes potential administrative law points of contest in practice, but the source does not supply any examples or reported decisions challenging or clarifying those powers.
• The lack of penalties, enforcement routes and review mechanisms in the provided text suggests that litigation over levy enforcement, recovery and penalties , if it has occurred , would likely appear in the case law dealing with the regulations, the Management Act or the Import Levy Act; none of that case law is contained in the supplied material.

For any practitioner seeking litigation authorities that interpret the levy provisions, exemption discretion, heel allowance application, regulation‑making preconditions in s 3A(12), or the interaction between licence suspension and levy liability (s 3(3)), the source indicates that one must search external legal databases, official consolidated statutes, and tribunal and court records. The extract itself provides no recorded cases or litigation narrative.

The Act contains several textual and structural features likely to catch practitioners who rely on surface assumptions. These are drawn directly from the statutory text and its cross‑references:

• Levy attaches by reference to licence content, not merely to activity. Liability depends on whether "a controlled substances licence allows the licensee to manufacture" (s 3A(1); s 4(1)). Because s 3(3) directs that any suspension is to be disregarded when determining whether a licence allows the activity, a suspended licence may nonetheless be treated as authorising manufacture for the purpose of triggering levy, even if the licensee cannot lawfully manufacture during the suspension; the Note directs readers to s 19D(4) of the Management Act for the effect of a licence suspension. That disjunction , licence permission as the levy trigger while suspension affects operational ability , is a compliance pitfall.
• The scope is tied to "bulk scheduled substances". The levy provisions apply only to the manufacture of scheduled substances that are bulk scheduled substances, as the notes to s 3A(1) and s 4(1) indicate through cross‑reference to subsection 3(2) of this Act and subsection 9(1) of the Management Act. Practitioners must therefore verify whether specific substances are bulk scheduled under the Management Act rather than assuming all scheduled substances are captured.
• Heel allowance reduction modifies taxable base. For both SGGs and other substances, the quantity taken to be manufactured is the quantity actually manufactured reduced by the heel allowance percentage (s 3A(4B); s 4(3A)). The Act does not set the heel allowance percentage; it is a regulatory parameter. Failure to apply the correct heel allowance percentage , or to account for its regulatory change , will misstate levy exposure.
• For SGGs the levy formula is straightforward but depends on the "prescribed rate". Section 3A(5) defines the levy as number of tonnes times a prescribed rate. The prescribed rate is to be provided in regulations and cannot be assumed from the Act (s 3A(5)). The Minister must be satisfied before regulations set the prescribed rate that the combined effect of this Act and the Import Levy Act will recover no more than the Commonwealth’s likely costs of specified classes (s 3A(12), table item 2).
• For non‑SGG substances the Act leaves the method open. Section 4(4) provides that the levy is "the amount prescribed, or worked out in accordance with a method prescribed, by the regulations." That open drafting allows a variety of regulatory methods, but creates uncertainty until the regulations are published.
• Exemption enumeration and drafting detail. Section 3A(7) lists grounds for ministerial exemption as paragraphs (i)-(iii) and (v). The absence of a paragraph (iv) in the reproduced text is an observable textual anomaly. The Act assigns the Minister discretion to exempt and requires the Minister to have regard to matters specified in regulations (s 3A(9)); the process and criteria for lodging an exemption claim or for administrative review are not in these sections.
• Ministerial preconditions can constrain regulations. Section 3A(12) requires the Minister to be satisfied of specific matters before the Governor‑General makes regulations for certain provisions. For example, before prescribing the prescribed rate (s 3A(5)), the Minister must be satisfied that the effect of this Act and the Import Levy Act will be to recover no more than particular Commonwealth costs (s 3A(12), table item 2). That requirement limits regulatory freedom and places a legal threshold that must be demonstrably met before regulations can be validly made.
• Delegation and directions. The Minister may delegate the power to exempt (s 3A(10)) to senior officials but must ensure delegates comply with written directions (s 3A(11)). Delegation is permitted under general Acts Interpretation Act provisions (note to s 3A(10)). Practitioners should check instruction documents and delegation instruments to see how delegates exercise the power in practice.
• No enforcement or penalty text in the extract. The Act excerpts contain no enforcement provisions. If a licensee fails to pay levy or misrepresents quantities, the mechanism for redress or penalty will be in regulations or other Acts (s 5; cross‑referenced statutes). Assuming the Act itself provides penalties is therefore a risk.
• Nil amount is explicitly possible. The definition "amount includes a nil amount" (s 2A) means the regulatory architecture could, in theory, set levies at zero. Practically, this is a drafting point practitioners should note when modelling exposure.
• Dependence on external definitions and cost categories. The Act’s limits on levy design refer to paragraph 65D(a), (b), (c) or (ca) of the Management Act (s 3A(12), table item 2; s 4(5)). To assess whether the Minister’s satisfaction requirement is met, one must consult the Management Act’s text for an authoritative list of recoverable costs. The Act therefore requires multi‑statute analysis for a correct legal position.

These specific features create compliance, interpretation and implementation risks that hinge on regulation drafting, delegation instruments and the Management Act’s schedules and cost categories. Practitioners should not assume rates, methods or enforcement processes until they have inspected the regulations and cross‑referred statutes.

Compliance requires operational record‑keeping, monitoring of regulations and timely administrative engagement with the Minister or delegate for potential exemptions. The Act prescribes the legal triggers and leaves rates and methods to the regulations, so compliance steps must be tailored to that regulatory detail. From the statutory text, a practical compliance checklist is:

1. Confirm licence scope and status

   • Verify that your controlled substances licence explicitly "allows the licensee to manufacture" the relevant scheduled substances. The levy attaches where the licence allows manufacture and manufacture occurs during a reporting period that the licence is in force (s 3A(1); s 4(1)).
   • Be aware that a licence suspension is to be disregarded when determining whether the licence allows the activity (s 3(3)). Confirm any suspension consequences under the Management Act (note to s 3(3) referring to subsection 19D(4) of the Management Act).

2. Determine whether the manufactured product is captured

   • Check whether the substance is a scheduled substance and specifically whether it is a bulk scheduled substance under the Management Act (s 3A(1) note; s 4(1) note). The Management Act’s schedules control capture.

3. Record quantities and apply heel allowance

   • Maintain contemporaneous production records showing the quantity actually manufactured in each reporting period.
   • Apply the heel allowance percentage to reduce the quantity taken to be manufactured for levy purposes (s 3A(4B); s 4(3A)). Because the heel allowance percentage is a regulatory parameter, track any regulatory changes and document the percentage applied in each reporting period.

4. Understand reporting period treatment

   • Treat any part of a reporting period in which a licence is in force as a reporting period (s 3A(4); s 4(3)). This affects partial periods where licences start or cease mid‑period.

5. Calculate levy according to substance type

   • For SGGs that are bulk scheduled substances, calculate levy as the number of tonnes (after heel allowance) times the prescribed rate (s 3A(5)). Do not rely on any assumed rate; use the rate as prescribed in the regulations.
   • For scheduled substances other than SGGs, apply the amount prescribed or calculated under the method prescribed by regulations (s 4(4)). Confirm the regulatory method and prescribed amounts.

6. Monitor and document regulatory changes and Ministerial preconditions

   • The prescribed rate, heel allowance percentage and methods will be set by regulations under s 5. Section 3A(12) sets out matters the Minister must be satisfied of before making regulations for certain provisions (for example, that the combined effect of this Act and the Import Levy Act will recover no more than certain Commonwealth costs). Record and retain documents showing the regulatory basis for any rate or method relied upon, in case of future queries about the legitimacy of the regulation under s 3A(12).
   • Keep evidence of any ministerial determinations or delegations applicable to your operation, and any written directions cited under delegation (s 3A(10)-(11)).

7. Consider exemption avenues where applicable

   • If manufacture is for use in medical equipment, manufacture of medical equipment, or other equipment or purposes prescribed by regulation, consider applying to the Minister for an exemption under s 3A(7). Gather documentary proof of use and be prepared to show that use meets the regulatory criteria and the matters the Minister must have regard to (s 3A(9)).
   • Note the Minister may delegate exemption decisions to senior officials; check departmental guidance for application procedures and to whom decisions are delegated (s 3A(10)-(11)).

8. Coordinate with import levy and Management Act obligations

   • Because the Act requires the Minister to be satisfied that the combined effect of this Act and the Import Levy Act will recover no more than particular Commonwealth costs before making certain regulations (s 3A(12) table item 2; s 4(5)-(6)), integrate your internal compliance with any import levy obligations under the Import Levy Act and statutory fees under the Management Act. Ensure that auditors and compliance officers understand the cross‑statutory design.

9. Prepare for enforcement and record retention

   • Although the supplied extract does not set out enforcement or penalty provisions, maintain robust records of production, licence terms, exemption applications, and calculations of levy. Retention and documentation will be critical when enforcement or audit regimes under the regulations, the Management Act or the Import Levy Act are applied.

10. Seek administrative clarity early

• If the practical operation of the levy for your manufacturing activity is uncertain , for example, whether a product is a bulk scheduled substance, how the heel allowance applies, or the availability of an exemption , engage early with the administering department or delegate. Obtain written confirmation where possible, retain correspondence and, if necessary, seek administrative review routes provided in the regulations or cross‑referenced statutes.

By following these steps and maintaining a monitoring process for regulatory change, licence conditions, and ministerial determinations, licensees can reduce the risk of miscalculation or surprise compliance liabilities. The central compliance levers in the Act are licence content, production measurement less heel allowance, and adherence to regulationally prescribed rates and methods (s 3A(1)-(5); s 4(1), (3A), (4)).