The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Customs Charges Imposition) Bill 2025 establishes a new framework to impose customs charges for cost recovery of regulatory activities under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). It requires that any such charge be set by regulation at no more than the Commonwealth’s likely costs.
This bill is one of three complementary Charging Bills (customs, excise and general) introduced to comply with section 55 of the Constitution by separating customs duties from other taxes.
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Customs Charges Imposition) Bill 2025, once enacted as the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Customs Charges Imposition) Act 2025, empowers the Commonwealth to impose customs duties on prescribed matters connected to the administration of the EPBC Act. Under Clause 3 the Act binds the Crown in the states and territories (but not the Commonwealth Crown), and Clause 4 extends its operation to external territories; Clause 5 applies it extraterritorially. Clause 6 ensures no charge is imposed on state property in line with section 114 of the Constitution. Clause 7 permits the Governor-General, by regulation, to specify which import-related activities incur customs charges, limited strictly to cost-recovery. Clause 8 allows regulations to set charges either by flat amounts or calculation methods, subject to the Minister’s satisfaction that they do not exceed the Commonwealth’s likely costs. Clause 9 enables exemptions to be prescribed in regulation, and Clause 10 grants regulation-making powers to give full effect to the Act. The Bill itself does not fix any charge levels or impose immediate financial impacts; those details will be determined in future regulations.
Australia’s unique ecosystems and native species depend on a well-resourced regulator to enforce protections under the EPBC Act. By linking customs charges to environmental regulatory activities, the bill ensures that importers whose goods may affect biodiversity contribute directly to conservation efforts [Judgment].
Separating customs charges into a dedicated Act aligns with the Constitution’s requirement for customs duties to be legislated separately, ensuring legal certainty and a stable, transparent funding stream for environmental regulation. The ceiling that charges recover no more than actual costs promotes fairness and maintains public confidence in government stewardship of natural assets.
Relying on customs duties as a funding source may impose additional compliance costs on importers without demonstrably improving environmental outcomes. The administrative complexity of setting, monitoring and adjusting charges by regulation risks diverting resources into bureaucracy instead of on-the-ground conservation [Judgment].
The tripartite structure of separate Customs, Excise and General Charges Acts could create confusion and uncertainty for businesses, potentially slowing trade and reducing the overall revenue collected for environmental protection, thereby undermining the bill’s own cost-recovery and conservation objectives [Judgment].
2025-10-30
Passed Both Houses
Unspecified
Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Climate Change / Environment, Trade Policy, Financial Regulation