Tariff (PACER Plus) Amendment Bill

1. Title

This Act is the Tariff (PACER Plus) Amendment Act 2020.

2. Commencement

This Act comes into force on a date appointed by the Governor-General by Order in Council.

Part 1 - Amendments to Tariff Act 1988

3. Principal Act

This Act amends the Tariff Act 1988 (the principal Act).

4. Section 2 amended (Interpretation)

In section 2(1), insert in their appropriate alphabetical order:

country includes a territory or a part of a country or territory

PACER Plus means the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus done at Nuku’alofa, Tonga, on 14 June 2017

specified PACER Plus party means a country that is for the time being declared by Order in Council under section 7A(1)(bb) to be a specified PACER Plus party for the purposes of this Act

5. Section 7A amended (Orders in Council about preferential countries)

(1) Before section 7A(1)(c), insert:

• (bb) declare a country that is a party to the PACER Plus to be a specified PACER Plus party for the purposes of this Act:

(2) In section 7A(3), before “or a specified AANZFTA party”, insert “, a specified PACER Plus party,”.

Part 2 - Amendments to Tariff

6. Tariff amended

Sections 7, 8, and 9, in accordance with section 9F(1) of the principal Act, amend the Tariff.

7. Tariff, note 2 amended

In the notes to the Tariff, note 2, penultimate paragraph, after “Pac,”, insert “PPP,”.

8. Tariff, note 3 amended

In the notes to the Tariff, note 3, after the item relating to a country in relation to which the South Pacific Regional Trade and Economic Co-operation Agreement is in force, insert:

9. Tariff, Part II amended

In Part II of the Tariff, after paragraph (2) of the item relating to concession reference number 66, insert the concession item set out in the Schedule.

Schedule - New Tariff item

B.315 - Tariff (PACER Plus) Amendment Bill was authored by Hon. David Parker (IRL Figure) and is sponsored by the Minister of External Affairs, /u/UncookedMeatloaf (Greens), on behalf of the government.

Debate will conclude at 6 PM, 06/09/2020.