Hunt & Hunt together with the Freight & Trade
Alliance (FTA) has made a joint submission to Customs regarding
their proposed changes to the criteria for making tariff concession
orders (TCO).
The changes proposed by Customs would make it harder for
importers to obtain TCOs and easier for local manufacturers to seek
revocation of existing TCOs.
Our
previous update on the proposed change outlined the nature and
likely impact of the change . Essentially, before a TCO can be
made, it must be shown that there is no Australian producer of
substitutable goods.
The current legislation requires that before goods will be
classified as being produced in Australia at least 25% of the
labour costs, factory overhead costs and material must be of
Australian origin (25% test). A second test requires that there be
a substantial process in the manufacture of the goods undertaken in
Australia (Substantial Process Test).
