COAG Decision Regulation Impact Statement – Meeting of Environment Ministers
On 15 December 2015, the Meeting of Environment Ministers agreed to measures to reduce air pollution from wood heaters, including the adoption of new emission and efficiency standards for new wood heaters and sharing best management practices across jurisdictions. A Decision Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) was prepared by the Department of the Environment. The Decision RIS was assessed as compliant with the COAG RIS requirements by the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR). The RIS notes that most of the compliance costs are anticipated to occur in the first 3 years of the program as heater models are made compliant with the new standards – this is estimated to involve costs of around $3.5 million in each of the three years. The total change in regulatory burden is estimated to be $2.346 million per annum. Of this, $234,000 (10 per cent) has been attributed to the Commonwealth. The change in regulatory burden was agreed with the OBPR.
