The very recent decision of the Administration Appeals Tribunal
("AAT") in B R Williams Customs and
Freight Forwarding Pty Ltd v the CEO of Customs represents a
rare example of consideration of the rights of the Australian
Customs and Border Protection Service
("Customs") to cancel the licence of a
customs broker following the recommendation of the National Customs
Brokers Licensing Authority Committee
("NCBLAC").
As the legal adviser to the CBFCA I have been asked to provide
some commentary on the decision and some potential
consequences.
PRELIMINARY CAUTIONS
At the outset, even though the licence of the customs broker was
reinstated by the AAT, all licensed customs brokers need to be
careful not to consider this decision as evidence of any weakness
in the rights of Customs to take action under Part XI of the
Customs Act 1901 ("Act") or any
vote of no-confidence in the role of NCBLAC. There were a number of
factors at work in the decision which the AAT found
