Tariff Concession Revocation Order 06/2007 - Tariff Concession Order 0614799/0614806

The instrument deploys a small set of statutory and administrative concepts. First, revocation and substitution: it exercises the power to revoke a previously made TCO and to make replacement TCO entries. The operative statutory authority is invoked at the head of the instrument: "Under Section 269SD(2) of the Customs Act 1901" (instrument preamble). Second, classification: the instrument identifies the affected goods by customs tariff classification numbers (8708.99.99 and 8708.99.91) and by descriptive text specifying origin (original equipment or reproductions), applicability to vehicles within Chapter 87 of the Customs Tariff Act 1987 if imported, a manufacturing date threshold (manufactured prior to 1962), and enumerated component types (steering mechanisms, engine and gearbox mountings, chassis, suspension assemblies, interior linings cut to shape, instrument and dashboard panels, control levers and pedal mechanisms, heaters, fuel tanks and fittings). These descriptive and classificatory elements are the basis for applying the replacement entries.

Third, linkage to the Customs Tariff Act 1995: the instrument states the statutory mechanism by which the new entries operate , the goods listed in Column 1 of TABLE B are goods to which the item in Part III of Schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act 1995 specified in Column 2 applies (instrument text). The Schedule 4 item number is recorded as "50" in TABLE B.

Fourth, effective dates and operation annotations: the instrument records dates for both the revocation (effect from 02.01.07) and the operative commencement in the TABLE B entries marked "Op. 01.01.07" alongside TC reference numbers (TC 0614799 and TC 0614806). The prior TCO’s making date (23.11.06) and the new TCO numbers are also recorded. Fifth, administrative authorship and signature: the instrument is signed and dated by a named delegate (Robert Crawford) with the office title "Delegate of the Chief Executive Officer."

Finally, the instrument contains structural cross-references between TABLE A and TABLE B , TABLE A supplies the prior description of goods and Table B in the instrument contains the replacement entries , but the printed text shows duplication and typographical anomalies that affect interpretation; these are material to classification and timing and are addressed below.

All of the above concepts appear verbatim in the instrument and are the only legal constructs the instrument itself uses; it does not set out penalties, procedural detail for claimants or importers, or the substantive effect of Schedule 4 item 50 within the text of the instrument.

Directly affected parties are importers, customs brokers and traders dealing with parts for vehicles described in the instrument, specifically parts that are original equipment or reproductions fitted as original equipment to vehicles that would fall within Chapter 87 of the Customs Tariff Act 1987 if imported and that were manufactured prior to 1962. The instrument’s Column 1 descriptions (TABLE B) identify the covered goods by type and by the qualifying manufacturing date, thus defining the scope of impact for those who import, sell, or classify such parts.

Customs officials and the office of the Chief Executive Officer of Australian Customs are administratively implicated because the instrument was executed by a delegate of the CEO under s 269SD(2) of the Customs Act 1901, and because the instrument itself directs how certain tariff classifications are to be recorded and linked to Part III of Schedule 4 of the Customs Tariff Act 1995. Any operational changes to import entries, manifest coding, or tariff processing for the listed HS subheadings (8708.99.99, 8708.99.91) will require customs administration attention.

Manufacturers, restorers, collectors and dealers of vintage vehicles (those manufactured prior to 1962) who import replacement parts or reproduction parts will need to confirm whether the parts they import match the descriptive lists in the instrument. The instrument enumerates specific component categories (e.g. steering mechanisms; engine and gearbox mountings; chassis; suspension assemblies; interior linings cut to shape; instrument and dashboard panels; control levers and pedal mechanisms; heaters; fuel tanks and fittings) as examples of the goods covered under the entries. The instrument also records an additional set of items in its TABLE B listing (tie rod ends; suspension ball joints; oil seals and gaskets) which appear in the printed text but the formatting makes their inclusion or exclusion unclear; importers of those specific items will be directly attentive to the instrument’s language and how customs interprets it.

Indirectly affected parties include logistics chains, retailers and repair workshops that source their parts from overseas suppliers: changes in tariff entries, effective dates, or applied Schedule 4 items will affect how those participants classify imports, lodge customs declarations and advise customers about landed cost. The instrument itself does not set out notification procedures to traders or administrative remediation for prior importations; its stated effect is to revoke one TCO and make two replacement TCO entries, and the practical consequence for these parties is that they must determine whether consignments fall within the newly recorded descriptions and tariff lines.

The instrument is narrowly administrative: it does not create freestanding duties or rights beyond recording that certain tariff concession entries are revoked and others are made, and identifying which Part III Schedule 4 item applies to the listed goods. The operative duties and rights that flow from the instrument are therefore indirect and arise from operational obligations to classify imported goods and to apply the relevant tariff items in customs declarations.

Duty-bearers: importers and their agents must ensure the goods they declare match the precise descriptions in Column 1 of TABLE B (instrument). The instrument’s Column 1 descriptions include both tariff classification numbers (8708.99.99 and 8708.99.91) and textual qualifiers (goods being original equipment or reproductions fitted as original equipment to vehicles, manufactured prior to 1962, and listing component types). Compliance requires aligning the actual goods with those descriptors when completing import documentation.

Right to rely on the TCO entries: where an importer’s goods unambiguously fall within the TABLE B descriptions and have the corresponding tariff classification, the instrument provides the administrative record that the particular Part III Schedule 4 item number "50" applies to those goods. The instrument states this linkage as a factual legal relationship ("are goods to which the item in Part III of Schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act 1995 specified in Column 2 of TABLE B applies") which importers can reference when lodging entries. The instrument itself, however, does not state the substantive consequence of that Schedule 4 item.

Timing obligations: the instrument sets effective dates. The revocation effective date is 02 January 2007; the TABLE B entries are annotated with "Op. 01.01.07" and TC numbers (TC 0614799 and TC 0614806). Importers must reconcile these dates when lodging entries for consignments around that date , for example, determining whether a consignment arriving on 01 January 2007 or 02 January 2007 should be declared against the prior TCO or the replacement TCOs. The instrument states the Order "shall have effect from the date notified in paragraph (a) above as the date of effect for the Revocation," which anchors the effective revocation date in paragraph (a).

Administrative duty to check TCO identifiers: the instrument names the originating and replacement TC reference numbers explicitly (revoked TC 0614756; replacement TC 0614799 and TC 0614806). Agents and importers who rely on the TCO regime must check and use the appropriate TC numbers in paperwork, because the instrument’s effect is to alter which TC numbers are current for the described goods.

No additional procedural rights spelled out: the instrument does not include appeal, review, or rectification steps within its text. Any rights to contest classification, timing or application would arise from the underlying statute and administrative framework; the instrument itself confines its content to the revocation and replacement entries.

The instrument does not set out any penalties, fines or specific enforcement mechanisms within its own text. It is an administrative order that records the revocation of a TCO and the making of replacement TCOs; the only statutory provision cited in the instrument itself is the exercise of power under s 269SD(2) of the Customs Act 1901. The instrument therefore signals that enforcement, penalties and compliance mechanisms relevant to incorrect classification, false declarations or breaches of customs obligations remain governed by the broader Customs Act and related tariff legislation, but the instrument does not itself specify those provisions.

What the instrument does record that is relevant to enforcement is its administrative provenance: it is made by a delegate of the Chief Executive Officer and is dated (Robert Crawford, Dated 02 January 2007). That provenance matters for administrative law questions , for example, who made the decision and on what date , but the instrument contains no enforcement prescriptions or sanctioning language.

Practical enforcement implications that follow from the instrument’s mechanics,rather than from an express provision in the text,are these: customs officers and processing systems will have a changed set of TCO identifiers and associated Schedule 4 item references for the affected tariff lines, and those operational changes will guide how incoming entries are processed. If an importer declares goods under an incorrect or revoked TCO number (for example, continuing to rely on TC 0614756 after its revocation), standard customs rules about misdeclaration or incorrect tariff treatment would likely apply; but the instrument itself does not enumerate those rules or penalties.

The instrument’s silence on penalties is material: it creates a clear administrative change but leaves the framework for enforcement and remedies to the primary legislation and administrative procedures outside the text of this Order. Any enforcement action taken under the new entries would therefore be undertaken pursuant to the Customs Act and related tariff law rather than pursuant to provisions within this instrument.

This instrument explicitly situates itself within two other statutory frameworks and thus interacts with them by reference. First, it is made under the authority of section 269SD(2) of the Customs Act 1901, as the instrument’s opening line states. Second, it expressly links the new TCO entries to Part III of Schedule 4 of the Customs Tariff Act 1995 by stating that the goods specified in Column 1 of TABLE B are goods "to which the item in Part III of Schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act 1995 specified in Column 2 of TABLE B applies."

The instrument does not attempt to restate the substantive legal effects that arise under those Acts. It therefore functions as an administrative instrument that adjusts tariff concession records and cross-references the relevant Schedule 4 item number. The concrete interactions recorded in the instrument are: the revocation and replacement exercise is taken under the Customs Act power; the replacement entries identify which Schedule 4 item of the Customs Tariff Act 1995 is to be applied to the described goods.

Because the instrument is narrowly written, it does not set out interactions with other legislation such as the Customs Tariff Act 1987 beyond a descriptive reference. The Column 1 descriptions use the phrase "if imported, would fall within Chapter 87 of the Customs Tariff Act 1987" to describe the class of vehicles to which the parts relate. That is a descriptive cross-reference used to define the covered goods; the instrument does not otherwise cite the Customs Tariff Act 1987 as a source of operative power for the Order.

In short, the instrument changes administrative tariff records and points customs officers and importers to the Schedule 4 item to be applied under the Customs Tariff Act 1995; the mechanics and legal operation of Schedule 4 and the enforcement or remission regimes that flow from those Acts are outside the text of this instrument but are the necessary legal environment within which the instrument takes effect.

The instrument records its own immediate amendment chain: it revokes Tariff Concession Order Number 0614756, which the instrument records as having been made on 23 November 2006, and replaces it with two new TCO entries. The revocation takes effect from 02 January 2007, as stated at the head of the instrument: "I Robert Crawford a delegate ... revoke Tariff Concession Order Number 0614756 made on 23.11.06 ... This Revocation has effect from 02.01.07" (instrument preamble).

The replacement entries are recorded in TABLE B and bear new TC reference numbers. For the tariff classification 8708.99.99 the replacement line is annotated "Op. 01.01.07 - TC 0614799"; for 8708.99.91 the replacement line is annotated similarly and carries TC 0614806. Thus the instrument documents the immediate amendment sequence: existing TCO 0614756 (made 23.11.06) is revoked effective 02.01.07 and replaced by TCOs 0614799 and 0614806, operationally dated 01.01.07.

TABLE A of the instrument reproduces the prior goods description and shows the prior TCO entry under 8708.99.99; it also records a Column 2 entry that in the printed text appears as "5002.01.07" under the heading "Schedule 4 Item Number Last date of effect." This appears to be a composite or misformatted string combining an item number and a date (compare TABLE B where Column 2 is shown as "50" on separate rows). The instrument thus reflects a textual change in the Schedule 4 item designation between the revoked and replacement entries: the prior entry’s Column 2 field is not presented in the same clear form as the new TABLE B entries, which consistently show "50". The new entries therefore standardise the Schedule 4 item number field to "50".

The instrument is dated 02 January 2007 and signed by the delegate; it contains two-page pagination statements ("This is page 1 of 2 Pages..." and "This is page 2 of 2 Pages...") indicating the full instrument comprises both tables and the delegate signature. No other amending instruments, subsequent revocations or later dates are recorded within the text provided.

The instrument contains no reference to litigation, legal proceedings, appeals, or judicial review associated with the revocation or replacement TCOs. There are no cases named or legal challenges recorded in the text. The only judicially relevant content the instrument provides is the identification of the statutory power used to make the order (s 269SD(2) of the Customs Act 1901) and the administrative decision-maker (the named delegate). If litigation were to arise from classification disputes, timing or retrospective application of the entries, that litigation is not referenced or documented in this instrument.

Because the instrument itself is an administrative act altering tariff concession records, disputes about its effect (for example disputes over whether particular goods fall within the descriptive text, or about which TCO applied to a particular importation occurring around the operative dates) would be matters for the relevant administrative and judicial review processes under the Customs Act and general administrative law; the instrument does not record whether any such disputes had arisen at the time it was signed.

In summary, the instrument contains no litigation history. It provides the factual and administrative trace (revocation, replacement, dates, TC numbers, delegate) that would be necessary for a litigant to identify the decision to be challenged, but the instrument itself makes no mention of legal proceedings.

The instrument’s text contains several drafting and formatting features that create interpretive risk for importers and administrators. These are explicit within the instrument and can affect classification, timing and operational treatment.

1. Typographical and formatting ambiguities: The printed text duplicates the "TABLE B" label within the descriptive passages and contains run-on sequences such as "TABLE BTABLE A" and "5002.01.07" in TABLE A’s Column 2. Those textual anomalies make it unclear whether some sublists are intended as inclusions or exclusions and whether the prior Column 2 item number and last date of effect were meant to be separate fields. The instrument reproduces these anomalies; they are not editorial insertions.

2. Overlapping or inconsistent dates: The revocation is stated to have effect from 02.01.07 at paragraph (a), while the replacement TABLE B entries carry the notation "Op. 01.01.07" alongside their TC numbers. The instrument also states "The Order shall have effect from the date notified in paragraph (a) above as the date of effect for the Revocation." That creates a potential interpretive issue for consignments around 01-02 January 2007: the replacement entries are annotated as operative on 01.01.07 while the revocation expressly takes effect from 02.01.07. Traders and officers need to reconcile whether the replacement TCO entries are intended to operate from 01.01.07 notwithstanding the formal revocation date of 02.01.07, and the instrument’s language does not resolve that tension unambiguously.

3. Ambiguity about the lists labelled TABLE A and TABLE B in the body text: the descriptive paragraph for the goods says "being ANY of the goods listed in TABLE A, but NOT including ANY of the goods listed in TABLE B" while the tabular display in TABLE B then lists the tariff lines and repeats the textual list. The instrument’s visual structure therefore requires careful parsing to determine whether the items presented in the printed "TABLE B" column 1 are the same list as the earlier "TABLE A" or whether subordinate enumerations in the body text are intended as exceptions. This creates risk for importers of items that appear in the enumerations (for example tie rod ends, suspension ball joints, oil seals and gaskets): whether those items are excluded or included under the TCOs must be determined from the final tabular text and possibly from administrative guidance outside the instrument.

4. Inconsistent Column 2 formatting: TABLE A’s Column 2 contains a composite-looking value "5002.01.07" while TABLE B’s entries show a numeric "50" without a date in the Column 2 field. This suggests either a transcription error in TABLE A or a deliberate simplification in TABLE B; the instrument does not clarify. The practical consequence is that one cannot, from the instrument alone, be certain of the Schedule 4 item and last date of effect as those fields were recorded for the revoked TCO without seeking the original TCO 0614756 record.

5. Reliance on external statute for substantive effect: the instrument links the TCO entries to "Part III of Schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act 1995" but it does not reproduce the substantive content of that Schedule 4 item. Users of the instrument must therefore consult the referenced Schedule 4 item (outside this instrument) to determine the tariff consequences and any conditions attached. The instrument supplies only the cross-reference and the item number ("50" in TABLE B).

6. Two separate tariff subheadings used for effectively identical textual descriptions: the instrument creates two replacement entries, 8708.99.99 and 8708.99.91, using substantially identical wording. Importers must determine which HS subheading applies to their consignments, because the instrument treats them as separate entries with separate TC numbers (0614799 and 0614806) and separate tariff-line records in customs systems.

These are not speculative observations: each is traceable to the instrument’s text as presented and could materially affect classification, duty outcomes and administrative processing.

Compliance with the instrument is an administrative exercise: ensure that import declarations, tariff classification, and any reliance on a TCO use the replacement TC identifiers and conform with the goods descriptions recorded in TABLE B. The instrument supplies the following compliance checklist items that can be implemented directly from its text.

1. Confirm whether the goods fall within Column 1 descriptions in TABLE B. The instrument identifies the affected goods by tariff classification (8708.99.99 and 8708.99.91) and by textual qualifiers: the goods must be parts for vehicles, be original equipment or reproductions fitted as original equipment to vehicles that would fall within Chapter 87 of the Customs Tariff Act 1987 if imported, and be manufactured prior to 1962. The instrument’s own lists of component types (steering mechanisms; engine and gearbox mountings; chassis; suspension assemblies; interior linings, cut to shape; instrument and dashboard panels; control levers and pedal mechanisms; heaters; fuel tanks and fittings) should be used to check whether a specific part is the kind contemplated by the TCO. Use the exact language from TABLE B when matching goods to the instrument.

2. Use the correct TC reference numbers. The instrument replaces TCO 0614756 with TC 0614799 (for 8708.99.99) and TC 0614806 (for 8708.99.91). When lodging entries, ensure that the updated TC number is quoted where the customs system requires a TCO or TC reference. The instrument explicitly records these TC numbers in TABLE B.

3. Reconcile timing around 01-02 January 2007. The instrument shows the revocation has effect from 02.01.07 and the replacement entries carry "Op. 01.01.07". For any consignments declared or arriving around those dates, document the date of arrival, date of clearance and the TCO number relied on. The instrument expressly anchors effect to the date in paragraph (a) (02.01.07), but the replacement lines are annotated with 01.01.07; therefore, maintain contemporaneous records and be prepared to justify the choice of TCO number if queried.

4. Be attentive to the textual exceptions and ambiguous lists. The instrument’s layout includes a statement that some goods are "ANY of the goods listed in TABLE A, but NOT including ANY of the goods listed in TABLE B," while the printable tables repeat and reorganise those lists. For items that are specifically enumerated (for example tie rod ends; suspension ball joints; oil seals and gaskets), verify whether those parts are within or outside the operative TCO as it appears in the final TABLE B entries. If the classification of an item is marginal, seek clarification from customs or hold clearance pending resolution, because the instrument’s printed text contains ambiguous formatting that may lead to differing interpretations.

5. Cross-check the applicable Schedule 4 linkage. The instrument states that the goods in TABLE B are goods to which the item in Part III of Schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act 1995 specified in Column 2 applies; TABLE B shows Column 2 as "50". For full compliance following the instrument’s cross-reference, consult Part III Schedule 4, item 50 of the Customs Tariff Act 1995 (outside this instrument) to determine any further conditions, documentation requirements or substantive consequences that attach to that Schedule 4 item.

6. Maintain version control and provenance. Retain the instrument’s pages and the delegate’s signature reference (Robert Crawford, Dated 02 January 2007) and note the original TCO number that was revoked (0614756 made 23.11.06) for audit trails and any retrospective enquiries. The instrument’s pages are paginated ("This is page 1 of 2", "This is page 2 of 2"); include both pages in compliance files.

7. Where uncertainty persists, document requests for administrative clarification. Given the instrument’s typographical ambiguities (see "Gotchas"), if there remains any doubt whether a particular good is covered, lodge a written query with customs specifying the relevant TC numbers, the commodity description, the date of import, and the referenced parts of the instrument. Keep records of any such communications alongside any provisional classification decisions.

These steps derive directly from the instrument’s text: the tariff lines, the Table descriptions, the TC numbers, the dates and the Schedule 4 cross-reference are the primary compliance markers set out within the Order itself.