On 23 May 2014 Consumer Affairs Australia and New Zealand released a Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) on extending unfair contract term protections for standard form contracts to small businesses. Standard form contracts are often prepared by businesses for transactions that are of low value and repeated with a large number of parties. Previous research has found that standard form contract terms and conditions can disadvantage consumers who do not have the ability to review or negotiate standard form contracts. Consequently, Unfair Contract Terms in standard form consumer contracts are now regulated by provisions in the Australian Consumer Law. The RIS identifies the possibility that small businesses may face similar problems as consumers when engaging in contracts.
Published Impact Analyses
Official website for Published Impact Analyses for decisions announced by the Australian Government, Ministerial Forums and National Standard Setting Bodies.
On 23 May 2014 the National Manager of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (as delegate to the Minister for Health) made the Therapeutic Goods Order 69D, changing the requirements for the advisory statements that must be made on non-prescription medicine labels. The labels of non-prescription medicines should provide self-medicating consumers with sufficient information to choose the medicines appropriately and to use the medicines safely and effectively. In order to ensure that important safety information is included on non-prescription medicine labels, the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 mandates the inclusion of advisory statements on some labels. These statements are currently compiled in the “Required Advisory Statements for Medicine Labels” (‘the RASML’).
On 30 June 2014, ministers responsible for work health and safety from all Australian governments agreed to release an Issues Paper and Consultation regulation impact statement (RIS) examining improvements to the model Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws. In 2008, COAG signed an agreement to implement model WHS laws across the country. The model WHS Act, model WHS Regulations and model Codes of Practice were agreed – together these make up the model WHS laws. Seven jurisdictions (the Commonwealth, Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory, South Australia and Tasmania), have since adopted the model WHS laws.
On 24 April 2014, the Government released the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) White Paper. The Department of the Environment has certified the White Paper as a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) for initial decisions on the ERF including the ERF crediting and purchasing arrangements and changes to the Carbon Farming Initiative, and coverage of the ERF safeguard mechanism in accordance with the Australian Government Guide to Regulation. The Government will provide $2.55 billion to reduce emissions at lowest cost over the period to 2020 and make a contribution towards Australia’s 2020 emissions target. The Department estimated the change in regulatory burden associated with the ERF crediting and purchasing arrangements and changes to the Carbon Farming Initiative at $4.68 million per annum.
Regulation Impact Statement – Department of Industry
On 13 May 2014, as part of revenue measures announced in the Australian Government’s 2014-15 Budget, the Government announced changes to levies and export charges for the onion industry, commencing on 1 July 2014. The onion industry’s perception is that greater funding is required in order to avoid underinvestment in industry-wide research and development (R&D) and for marketing as well as capturing collective benefits for the onion industry. In addition, the industry considered the National Residue Survey (NRS) onion residue monitoring program no longer provides benefits to all onion growers, particularly those supplying the export markets and should be discontinued. There were also concerns with existing arrangements regarding biosecurity risk mitigation and funding the costs of the industry’s Plant Health Australia (PHA) membership.
On 20 May 2014, the CEO of the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) announced changes to customer due diligence rules, which form part of Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime. The regime is intended to protect Australia's revenue base through enhanced collection and verification of customer information, as well as preventing organised criminals from misusing complex business structures to conceal ownership and controlling interests in entities. In broad terms, this regime requires that some financial institutions (reporting entities) need to identify and verify each of their customers so they can assess the money laundering or terrorism financing risk posed by each customer, and if necessary take appropriate action. Under this proposal, key changes to the customer due diligence regime include:
On 13 May 2014, as part of revenue measures announced in the Australian Government’s 2014-15 Budget, the Government announced changes to levies for the mushroom industry to commence on 1 July 2014. The mushroom industry’s perception is that greater funding is required in order to avoid underinvestment in industry-wide research and development (R&D) and for marketing. In addition, the industry has noted that the capacity of the current rate of the marketing and R&D levy to fund priority industry projects has been significantly eroded over the last decade. The preferred option is to increase the levy rate for R&D from $0.54 per kilogram of mushroom spawn to $1.08 per kilogram, and the levy rate for marketing from $1.62 per kilogram of mushroom spawn to $3.24 per kilogram.
On 3 June 2014, the Minister for Agriculture released for consultation an exposure draft mandatory port access code of conduct for bulk wheat exports and an associated Regulation Impact Statement (RIS). The RIS examines options for improving access to port terminals for bulk wheat exporters. One option is the introduction of a mandatory code of conduct for all port terminal service providers. The code is aimed at standardising access arrangements and improving the transparency of bulk wheat exports. If implemented by 30 September 2014, the code would replace the Wheat Export Marketing Act 2008. A RIS has been prepared by the Department of Agriculture for consultation, along with the draft code. Submissions on the draft code and RIS close at 5pm on Friday 24 June 2014.
Compulsory superannuation is intended to address myopia – the tendency of people to not save adequately for retirement because it is too far into their future for them to make adequate provision for their needs. Since 1992, employers have been required to make superannuation contribution for their eligible employees, at a rate set by the Superannuation Guarantee (SG). The SG is intended to provide for a higher standard of living in retirement than is possible from relying on the age pension alone. The SG is currently legislated to increase from 9 to 12 per cent in a stepped process which commenced from 1 July 2013 with a 0.25 per cent increase to 9.25 per cent, with a further 0.25 per cent increase scheduled on 1 July 2014. It is then legislated to increase in increments of half a per cent each year until it reaches 12 per cent on 1 July 2019.