Minerals (Submerged Lands) (Production Licence Fees) Act 1981

No. 84 of 1981

An Act to provide for the payment of fees in respect of licences under the Minerals (Submerged Lands) Act 1981 to recover minerals from submerged lands

[Assented to 18 June 1981]

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen, and the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Minerals (Submerged Lands) (Production Licence Fees) Act 1981.

Commencement

2. This Act shall come into operation on the day on which the Minerals (Submerged Lands) Act 1981 comes into operation.

Interpretation

3. Expressions used in this Act that are used in the Minerals (Submerged Lands) Act 1981 have, unless the contrary intention appears, the same meanings as they have in that Act.

Licence fees

4. (1) There is payable to the Designated Authority by a licensee, in respect of each year of the term of the licence, a fee calculated at the rate of $100 for each of the blocks to which the licence relates at the commencement of that year.

(2) A fee referred to in sub-section (1) is payable within 1 month after—

(a) in the case of the first year of the term of the licence—the day on which that term commenced; and

(b) in the case of a year of the term of the licence other than the first—the anniversary of that day.

Penalty for late payment

5. Where the liability of a licensee to pay a fee referred to in section 4 is not discharged at or before the time when the fee is payable, there is payable to the Designated Authority by the licensee an additional amount calculated at the rate of one-third of 1% per day upon the amount of the fee from time to time remaining unpaid, to be computed from the time when the fee became payable until it is paid.

Fees and penalties debts due to Commonwealth

6. (1) A fee under section 4, and an amount payable under section 5, are debts due by the licensee to the Commonwealth and are recoverable in a court of competent jurisdiction.

(2) Fees and other amounts referred to in sub-section (1) received by the Designated Authority shall be deemed to be received by him on behalf of the Commonwealth.