Export Control Act 2020

The Secretary may suspend the accreditation of a property in relation to one or more kinds of export operations and one or more kinds of prescribed goods and, if applicable, one or more places to which goods may be exported if the Secretary reasonably believes any of the following:

the integrity of a kind of prescribed goods covered by the accreditation cannot be ensured;

a requirement prescribed by rules made for the purposes of paragraph 79(2)(b) is no longer met;

a condition of the accreditation has been, or is being, contravened;

the manager of the property:

failed to comply with a direction given to the manager by an authorised officer or the Secretary; or

failed to comply with a request by an authorised officer to provide information or a document; or

failed to provide facilities and assistance to an auditor as required by section 271; or

failed to comply with a request made by an auditor under section 272;

the manager of the property has engaged in conduct that:

intimidated a person performing functions or exercising powers under this Act; or

hindered or prevented a person from performing functions or exercising powers under this Act;

the manager of the property or any other person who manages or controls export operations carried out at the property:

made a false, misleading or incomplete statement in an application under this Chapter; or

gave false, misleading or incomplete information or documents to the Secretary or to another person performing functions or exercising powers under this Act; or

gave false, misleading or incomplete information or documents to the Secretary or the Department under a prescribed agriculture law;

the manager of the property has contravened a requirement of this Act in relation to the accreditation of the property;

a ground prescribed by the rules exists.

A suspension must not be for more than 12 months (see section 97).

A decision to suspend the accreditation of a property under this section is a reviewable decision (see Part 2 of Chapter 11).

The Secretary must not suspend the accreditation of a property under subsection (1) unless the Secretary has given a written notice to the manager of the property in accordance with subsection (3).

A notice under subsection (2) must:

specify each kind of export operations and each kind of prescribed goods and, if applicable, each place in relation to which the accreditation is proposed to be suspended; and

specify the grounds for the proposed suspension; and

subject to subsection (4), request the manager of the accredited property to give the Secretary, within 14 days after the day the notice is given, a written statement showing cause why the accreditation should not be suspended as proposed; and

include a statement setting out the manager’s right to seek review of a decision to suspend the accreditation as proposed.

A notice under subsection (2) is not required to include the request referred to in paragraph (3)(c) if the Secretary reasonably believes that the grounds for the suspension are serious and urgent.