COAG Decision Regulation Impact Statement – The Australian Building Codes Board
On 21 December 2018, the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) released a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) examining the impact of proposed amendments to the National Construction Code (NCC) to improve energy efficiency in relation to commercial buildings. Amendments to Section J of the NCC will be available for viewing on the ABCB website in February 2019 and subject to a one year transition will take effect on 1 May 2020.
The Decision Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) for this proposal considered the impact of proposed changes to the stringency of energy efficiency provisions in the NCC in relation to commercial buildings (Class 3, 5-9 buildings and common areas of Class 2 buildings).
The RIS examined options to improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings, including: retaining the status quo; amending the NCC as the regulatory option; and developing a handbook for voluntary use by industry as the non-regulatory option.
The RIS concludes that the regulatory option is the preferred option as it has the greatest net benefit to the community.
Under the preferred option, technical amendments will be made to the NCCs:
- Performance Requirements of Section J
- Verification Method (JV3) and new Verification methods (JV1 and JV2); and
- Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions of Part J1-J8.
The Australian Building Codes Board prepared the final Decision RIS and it was assessed as compliant by the Office of Best Practice Regulation under Council of Australian Governments RIS requirements.