Customs Act 1901

Where particular goods, or goods of a particular kind, are, or after their importation will be, subject to customs control, application may be made to the Department, by document or electronically, in accordance with this section, for permission to move those goods, or goods of that kind, or to move them after their importation, to a place specified in the application.

A documentary movement application must:

be made by the owner of the goods concerned; and

be communicated to the Department by giving it to an officer doing duty in relation to import entries or to the movement of goods subject to customs control.

If:

the goods are goods to which section 68 applies; and

the goods have not been entered for home consumption or warehousing; and

subsection (2C) does not apply to the goods;

for goods carried on board a ship or aircraft—the operator of the ship or aircraft, a cargo reporter in relation to the goods, or a stevedore or depot operator who has, or intends to take, possession of the goods; or

for goods that are a ship or aircraft and that are not carried on board a ship or aircraft—the owner of the goods.

A movement application under subsection (2A) must be made electronically.

This subsection applies to goods if:

the goods are:

accompanied by, and described in, temporary admission papers issued in accordance with an agreement between Australia and one or more other countries that provides for the temporary importation of goods without payment of duty; or

subject to an application under section 162AA for permission to take delivery of goods; and

neither of the following applies:

the Comptroller‑General of Customs has refused to accept a security or undertaking under section 162A in relation to the goods;

a Collector has refused to grant permission under section 162A to take delivery of the goods.

If a movement application is duly communicated to the Department, subsections (3AA) and (3AB) apply.

An officer may direct the applicant to ensure that the goods are held in the place where they are currently located until the decision is made on the application.

If a direction is not given under subsection (3AA), or a reasonable period has elapsed since the giving of such a direction to enable the making of an informed decision on the application, an officer must:

if the application is a document movement application—by notice in writing to the applicant; or

if the application is an electronic movement application—by sending a message electronically to the applicant;

give the applicant permission to move the goods to which the application relates in accordance with the application either unconditionally or subject to such conditions as are specified in the notice or message;

refuse the application and set out in the notice or message the reasons for the refusal.

The Comptroller‑General of Customs may give permission in writing to the holder of an excise‑equivalent warehouse licence to remove excise‑equivalent goods from the warehouse or warehouses covered by the licence to any other warehouse at which excise‑equivalent goods of the kind being removed are authorised to be warehoused (whether by that or any other excise‑equivalent warehouse licence).

The Comptroller‑General of Customs:

must give a permission under subsection (3AC) to the holder of an excise‑equivalent warehouse licence:

on the grant of the licence if the licence covers more than one warehouse; or

for a licence that when granted covered only one warehouse—if the Comptroller‑General varies the licence to cover more than one warehouse; and

otherwise, may give a permission under that subsection on application by the licence holder.

A permission given under subsection (3AC) has effect subject to any conditions that apply to the licence that covers the warehouse from which the goods are removed.

A permission given under paragraph (3AB)(c) or subsection (3AC) is, until revoked, authority for the person to whom the permission is given to move goods to which the permission relates accordingly.

If a person moves goods otherwise than in accordance with the requirement of a permission to which the goods relate, the movement of the goods is, for the purposes of paragraph 229(1)(g), taken not to have been authorised by this Act.

If a cargo report states that goods specified in the report are proposed to be moved from a Customs place to another Customs place, then, despite section 71L, the statement is taken to be a movement application in respect of the goods duly made under this section.

In subsection (3C):

Where goods are moved to a place other than a warehouse in accordance with a permission under paragraph (3AB)(c), an officer of Customs may, at any time while the goods remain under customs control, direct in writing that they be moved from that place to a warehouse specified in the direction within a period specified in the direction.

If goods are not moved in accordance with such a direction, an officer of Customs may arrange for the goods to be moved to the warehouse specified in the direction or to any other warehouse.

Where an officer of Customs has arranged for goods to be moved to a warehouse, the Commonwealth has a lien on the goods for any expenses incurred in connection with their removal to the warehouse and for any warehouse rent and charges incurred in relation to the goods.