Draft Public Policy Ruling 1997/2

Public Policy Ruling 1997/2

Examples of short term consultancy claims

No.	Scenario	Prima facie eligible	Reasons/comments
1.	A consultant has been engaged to provide market reports as needed by an applicant. The consultant spends, say, one month on each of four country reports.	Depends on individual circumstances	Eligibility will depend on the circumstances listed in the box at page 2 of Ruling.
2.	A consultant is engaged to work on trade fairs. Each fair may last a week and there are a number each year (say 3)	Yes	Eligibility in terms of item 6 of the section 33 table will depend on the circumstances listed in the box at page 2 of Ruling. If the consulting services were directly related to participation in trade fairs, the expenses could also be assessable at item 5 of the expenses table at section 33.
3.	A consultant is engaged on an occasional basis to make overseas visits for which a daily payment plus expenses is made. There is no overall agreement in place but a proposal for work to be done is signed by both parties before each trip commences. Each trip can be regarded as being for particular projects or countries.	Depends on individual circumstances	Eligibility will depend on the circumstances listed in the box at page 2 of Ruling.
4.	An applicant’s long term consultant or representative (arms length) in USA is engaged to do a one-off marketing study of the Mexico market. The work takes 3 months. The applicant has never promoted to Mexico in the past. NB: Overseas rep’s expenses exceed $200,000.	No	Austrade will consider the overall relationship with the consultant. In this case the consultant is engaged on an ongoing basis and one component of this engagement would not be eligible.
5.	A consultant is engaged to draw up an export plan and to make recommendations as to how an applicant’s export market development should proceed. This work takes up to 12 months.	Yes	The project falls within the 3-12 month period for which certain assignments may be allowed However, Austrade would need to be satisfied that there was no likelihood that the consultant’s involvement in the project would exceed the originally envisaged period of up to 12 months. If the consultant is in a position to obtain follow up work conditional on the successful completion of a first stage, the consultant will not be accepted as short term.
6.	Same scenario as example 5 above except that the consultant obtains some follow-up work, that is, implementing some of the recommendations.	No	The relationship between the applicant and consultant has become an ongoing one in this case.
7.	A consultant was previously paid a 12 month retainer for a marketing assignment which was either set on a worldwide or a regional basis. In the grant year, the consultant is claimed for two three month assignments for the same product but in different countries to ones worked on in the previous year.	Depends on individual circumstances	Eligibility will depend on the circumstances listed in the box at page 2 of the ruling.
8.	A consultant is engaged to work one day a week for the whole year. This translates to 48 days which is less than three months of full-time equivalent work.	No	Consultant is engaged on an ongoing basis.
9.	A consultant’s expenses were allowed in 1995/96 for the six months of June 1996. In 1996/97 the same consultant’s expenses are claimed for an additional seven months for what is a continuation of the original six month assignment.	No	The consultant’s assignment exceeds 12 months, which is the maximum period that Austrade will consider for short term consultancy.
10.	A consultant is engaged for 12 months on a monthly retainer to work as a de facto Export manager. The consultant is responsible for developing global (all) markets for all the applicant’s products	No	This is not a project-based assignment. Specifically, it is not a short term market research or marketing assignment.
11.	A consultant has either never been previously engaged by the applicant or else has been previously engaged on one project lasting less than three months which is for marketing a particular product to a particular country. The consultant is then engaged on marketing the same product to two different markets (countries) in 1996/97. Both these assignments take up to three months.	Depends on individual circumstances	Eligibility will depend on the circumstances listed in the box at page 2 of the ruling.