The Australian Government’s new Best Practice Regulation Handbook gives effect to the revised regulatory impact analysis arrangements announced on 5 December 2012. Associated with the Handbook, the OIA has issued a guidance note on best practice consultation. Effective stakeholder consultation is a key element of regulatory impact analysis. A details-stage regulation impact statement is required to provide details of consultation, including the parties with whom consultation has been undertaken, any concerns raised and how these concerns have been reflected in the final proposal. The consultation should give affected stakeholders adequate opportunity to consider the proposal and comment, and should be commensurate with the magnitude of the problem and the size of the potential impact of the proposal.
Published Impact Analyses
Official website for Published Impact Analyses for decisions announced by the Australian Government, Ministerial Forums and National Standard Setting Bodies.
The Australian Government’s new Best Practice Regulation Handbook gives effect to the revised regulatory impact analysis arrangements announced on 5 December 2012. To coincide with the release of the new Handbook, the OBPR has updated its guidance material on cost-benefit analysis. We’ve issued this guidance note to help agencies looking to conduct cost-benefit analysis. A details-stage regulation impact statement should contain a comprehensive assessment of the expected costs and benefits of each identified option. The level of detail required must be commensurate with the impacts of the proposal. Where the impacts of a proposal are likely to be highly significant, a formal cost-benefit analysis will be required.
The Australian Government announced its response to the Independent Review of the Australian Government’s Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) Process in December 2012. As a consequence of this announcement, some changes have been made to the RIA arrangements. The new RIA process applies from July 2013 and is detailed in the revised Best Practice Regulation Handbook. However a transition period will apply in the near term for regulatory proposals already being considered, especially those for which agencies have started to prepare a regulation impact statement (RIS) under the old system. During the transition period, the OBPR will allow for some flexibility regarding the application of the current and new RIA processes.
On 24 July 2013, the Minister for Small Business announced the Australian Government’s response to the Review of the Franchising Code of Conduct. Franchising is a way of doing business, where the franchisor licenses to another business (the franchisee) the right to sell goods or services using the franchisor’s intellectual property and business reputation. The Franchising Code of Conduct regulates the ongoing relationship between franchisors and franchisees, typically to address concerns over the imbalance of power between franchisors and franchisees. The announcement stated the intention to make several changes to the Franchising Code of Conduct, including:
On 11 July 2013 the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) released final rules which set out the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives trade reporting obligations of financial institutions and the regulation of derivative trade repositories. The reporting rules follow a Ministerial determination made by the Treasurer that established the classes of derivatives for which ASIC could make reporting rules.
On 28 June 2013, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) released new guidance on the minimum financial requirements for custodial or depository service providers under the Corporations Act 2001. Providers can be categorised into three groups: custodians; incidental providers; and asset holders for Investor Directed Portfolio Services (IDPS). A custodian is responsible for the holding of property for another person who is the beneficial owner. ‘Incidental providers’ are authorised to provide custodial or depository services but do so in a manner that is ‘incidental’ to other financial services they provide. An IDPS is a scheme for acquiring and holding investments that involves custody arrangements and consolidated reporting to investors.
On 16 July 2013 the Minister for Climate Change announced that the commencement of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will be brought forward by one year to 1 July 2014. Previously the Government had outlined that the carbon price would be fixed for three years before transitioning to an ETS in 2015. Under an ETS the Government sets the emissions level cap for Australia; polluting entities are able to trade carbon units; and a price for these units prevails in the market. This price can vary over time.
On 1 July 2013, the Australian Building Codes Board released a consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) assessing the need for fire hose reels in new residential buildings. Currently fire hose reels are required by the National Construction Code as a first fire attack system provided for use by residents. Although effective when used correctly, the value of fire hose reels in buildings has been questioned. This is due to behavioural issues associated with the use of fire hose reels in terms of resident’s awareness and lack of confidence in operating the equipment. Apart from the status quo, the RIS considers the option of requiring additional fire extinguishers in buildings and removing the fire hose reels requirements.
Derivative contracts are financial instruments that grant rights to a future payment. These payments are usually defined with reference to the value or amount of an underlying asset, rate or index. Derivative contracts can have a number of features or forms. One common example is a call option that gives one investor the right (as opposed to the obligation) to buy an asset from another at a future date for a price agreed today. Derivative contracts essentially allow investors to transfer risk, profit and price exposures between themselves without transferring legal ownership of the underlying asset. Derivatives can be traded on exchanges, such as the Australian Stock Exchange, or between counterparties directly (referred to as ‘over-the-counter’ (OTC) derivatives). A key feature of OTC contracts is that they are not reported on a public exchange, or cleared through a central counterparty.
On 3 July 2013, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced a new International Mobile Roaming (IMR) Standard, which requires telecommunications providers of IMR services to implement certain measures over the next three years. These measures aim to reduce the incidence and impact of ‘Bill Shock’, that is, the occurrence of unexpectedly high bills for mobile devices arising from the use of IMR services. The Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) notes that Bill Shock can arise because of the significant differences that can exist between both the types of charges and the rate of charges when a mobile customer is overseas, compared to domestic use. In particular, the charges relating to data usage are identified as the major source of IMR Bill Shock.