Customs Amendment (Preventing Child Labour)

There are multiple organisations who track goods involving child labour. Once the Act comes into force those organisations, or any concerned party would be able to advise Australian Border Force of a suspected good. If an authorised officer (in Australian Border Force), reasonably suspects that goods imported, or intended to be imported, are goods involving child labour, the authorised officer may issue a notice to the importer requiring the importer to provide further information or documents about the goods. Following the importer giving information or documents about the goods, the authorised officer may give another notice to the importer requiring the importer to take particular action to reduce the risk that the goods involve child labour if the authorised officer reasonably believes the goods are goods involving child labour.

The importer has three months on each notice to comply with notice as required. The importer will be subject to either civil penalties or a ban on the importation of the goods if the goods are imported at a time when the importer has not complied with the notice. The issuing of notices is subject to judicial review.

The definition of child labour draws on the International Labour Organisation Convention No. 138: Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment (the ILO Convention) and considers the education status of the child. Child labour occurs where an individual who is under 14 years of age performs work in a foreign country and (if there is compulsory schooling and a minimum age for ceasing compulsory schooling in that foreign country) the individual is under that minimum age and absent from that compulsory schooling as a result of carrying out the work. A child under the age of 14 may work if their age is above the minimum age for compulsory school in their country.

The bill imposes a sliding scale of penalties leading to a total ban on importation after 48 months of non-compliance with a notice. A sliding scale is used to allow importers time to check their supply lines, and then make changes necessary to become compliant with this legislation.

Naming and shaming will be a powerful weapon in the fight against goods involving child labour. It is also true anyone named and shamed must receive procedural fairness. This section sets out rules whereby the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs can publish on their website details of any notices issued to an importer or details of any contravention of section 55 (penalties for importing goods covered by a notice that has not been complied with) or paragraph 223(1)(b) in relation to goods imported in circumstances described in section 51B (importing prohibited goods) of the Customs Act 1901. Before publication, the Department must provide the importer with a notice of intention to publish and invite a response. The decision to publish remains at the discretion of the Secretary of the Department.