Levy process causing worry

THE Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) is concerned about the process used to introduce carbon levies and the proposed manual collection of levies on petroleum products by the Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA).
ICCC commissioner and chief executive officer Paulus Ain said stakeholders too had raised the same concerns because the CCDA had pushed them through without consulting the stakeholders and Treasury. It brought into question the legal process and systems to be used by the CCDA to collect the levies or excise duties.
“The ICCC is of the opinion that the Public Finance (Management) (Amendment) Act 2016 does not provide the legal basis for the introduction and collection of the carbon levies,” he said.
“This is because the CCDA is not undertaking any activity or providing any service in return for the collection of the levies.
“The Public Finance (Management) (Amendment) Act is only applicable to Government agencies that are providing services in return for a fee such as for police clearance, issuance of work permits or passports.”
Ain said the CCDA’s governing legislation, the Climate Change (Management) Act 2015, was the appropriate legislation that the CCDA should use to introduce and collect those carbon levies.
“In accordance with Section 38 (1) of the Climate Change (Management) Act, the CCDA can impose import levies, fees and charges.
“However, it must do this in consultation with the minister for treasury, not the minister for finance.”
Ain said the ICCC did not support the manual collection of carbon levies because there were already Government systems in place to enable the CCDA to transparently and efficiently collect those levies.
“The PNG Customs Service has the automated system for customs data which should be used to collect these levies,” he said.
“The ICCC will only capture these levies in the prices of regulated fuel products once Treasury provides its feedback on this matter and proper legal processes are followed.
“The ICCC is also of the view that this issue should be raised with the State Solicitor’s office to provide legal clarification and certainty to all stakeholders.”