2010-2011

 

 

THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

 

SENATE

 

 

 

 

CUSTOMS AMENDMENT (SERIOUS DRUGS DETECTION) BILL 2011

 

 

 

SUPPLEMENTARY EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

(Amendments to be moved on behalf of the Government)

 

 

 

 

(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Home Affairs,

the Honourable Brendan O’Connor MP)

 

CUSTOMS AMENDMENT (Serious Drugs Detection) BILL 2011

OUTLINE

1.             The purpose of these amendments is to address an issue raised by the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills (the Committee).

2.             The Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill states that if procured technology has a broader scan capability that that which is required for the purposes of carrying out an internal non-medical scan, the equipment will be configured so as to limit the scan capability to internal cavities within a skeletal structure, when carrying out an internal non-medical scan.

3.             The Committee has recommended that this limitation to the capability of the technology be expressly included in the primary legislation.

4.             It is proposed to amend the Bill so as to provide that equipment prescribed for the purposes of this new scan must be configured so that the equipment’s use, when carrying out an internal non-medical scan, is limited to that which is necessary to produce an indication that a person is or may be internally concealing a suspicious substance.

FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT

5.             These amendments have no financial impact.

CUSTOMS AMENDMENT (Serious drugs deteCTion) BILL 2011

NOTES ON AMENDMENTS

Amendment (1)

6.             Amendment 1 inserts a new subsection (2A) into Schedule 1, after new subsection 219ZAB(2) of the Customs Act 1901 (the Act).

7.             New subsection 219ZAB(2A) will provide that any equipment prescribed under subsection (2) must be configured so that the equipment’s use, when carrying out an internal non-medical scan, is limited to that which is necessary to produce an indication that a person is or may be internally concealing a suspicious substance.

8.             This will ensure that the equipment will only be used for the purpose under the Act for which it is procured, namely, to carry out an internal non-medical scan, of internal cavities within a skeletal structure.