Today we released our annual compliance report. It’s our independent assessment of compliance with Australian Government and Council of Australian Governments’ (COAG) best practice regulation requirements. Essentially, it considers whether a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) was prepared for each significant decision and whether it was published. It also includes information about post-implementation reviews.
The 2013-14 report shows an increase in compliance with the Australian Government’s best practice regulation requirements. At the decision-making stage, compliance was 98 per cent in 2013-14, up from 97 per cent in 2012-13. There was one non-compliant Australian Government proposal at the decision‑making stage in 2013-14, compared with two in 2012‑13. An ‘exceptional circumstances’ exemption was granted by the Prime Minister (where no regulation impact statement is required to be prepared) on one occasion during 2013-14, down from eight in 2012-13.
Non-compliance with the post-implementation review requirements increased to eight in 2013-14, compared with three in the previous year. Each instance of non-compliance was because the post‑implementation review was not completed within the required timeframe.
The report also shows an increase in compliance at the decision-making stage to 88 per cent by COAG Councils and national standard‑setting bodies in 2013-14. This compares to 86 per cent in the previous year. COAG’s best practice regulation requirements were not met at the decision-making stage on one occasion in 2013-14, down from two in the previous year.
The report also discusses recent changes to the Australian Government RIS system and how the Office of Best Practice Regulation’s role has evolved.