Published Impact Analyses

On 3 January 2013, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced a number of decisions in relation to the auction for the sale of spectrum in the 700 megahertz (MHz) and 2.5 gigahertz (GHz) bands, including lot configuration for the spectrum auction.  The lot configuration decisions had earlier been published on Comlaw on 19 December 2012 in the respective Radiocommunications Spectrum Marketing Plans for the 700MHz and 2.5GHz bands. The main problem being addressed in the Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) is how to configure the spectrum to promote its efficient allocation and use.

On 21 December 2012, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry announced changes to the regulation of horticultural exports.  Regulations relating to the export of apples, pears and dried grapes will be removed from 31 January 2013.   The single importer arrangement for the export of citrus to the United States of America, which currently operates, will be replaced on 31 January 2013 by a new Citrus to US Marketing Program (similar to the Citrus to China program), both of which will be phased out on 31 January 2015. The Horticulture Marketing and Research and Development Services Act 2000 (HMRDS Act) and subordinate Regulations and Orders) allow horticultural industries, acting through Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL), to place conditions on horticultural produce exported from Australia.

On 9 February 2012, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy announced that competition limits would be imposed on the upcoming auction of spectrum in the 700 megahertz (MHz) and the 2.5 gigahertz (GHz) bands (see web post 22 February 2012). This part of the spectrum is seen as very important for the future growth of mobile communications services in Australia. On 14 December 2012, the Minister announced that further consideration had been given to the competition limits to accommodate potential changes in market conditions. The quantum of the competition limits for the 700 MHz band has been amended from 2 x 20 MHz to 2 x 25 MHz. The amended limits will ensure that all of the available 700 MHz spectrum can be acquired in a wider range of scenarios.

The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) has undertaken a screening process to identify regulation due to be reviewed in 2012 as a result of Recommendation 7.28 of Rethinking Regulation - Report of the Taskforce on Reducing Regulatory Burdens on Business (the Banks Review). The screening process revealed that most regulation was subject to the sunsetting under the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (LIA).  The majority of the remaining regulation either contained an internal review mechanism or had already been reviewed by some other mechanism, such as broad ranging reviews, statutory reviews or inquiries.  This left only a handful of regulations introduced in 2007 and 2008 that would be subject to a five-yearly review and none of these could be considered priority areas for review by the administering agencies.  The note on the screening process is provided below.

On 20 December 2012, the Assistant Treasurer announced that the Government will introduce legislative amendments to provide consumers with protection against unfair terms in insurance contracts. Currently, remedies for unfair terms in consumer contracts do not apply to insurance contracts. Estimates based on limited, mostly anecdotal, evidence suggest that in a year a small number of consumers (between 75 and 150) may be suffering a small aggregate financial detriment (between $5-10 million) due to unfair terms in insurance contracts. The Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) recommends amending the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 to provide remedies for unfair terms in insurance contracts.

On 20 April 2012 the Prime Minister and the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing announced a package of significant reforms to the way in which aged care is provided and funded in Australia. A Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) was prepared by the Department of Health and Ageing and assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation for the proposed package. One element of this package was a requirement for approved aged care providers to seek pre-approval from the Government of proposed accommodation charges from 1 July 2014.

The Attorney-General and state and territory ministers have agreed to a single voluntary government-led code of practice to help manage the security risks associated with eleven identified chemicals that can be used to make homemade explosives. These chemicals have a range of legitimate and productive uses in Australia and can be easily accessed by the public. However, security concerns have been identified in the way these chemicals are handled. The Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) examined five options to encourage businesses to adopt a range of measures to address security concerns when handling these chemicals. The options examined included three voluntary take-up options, a mandatory code of practice option and the status quo. Some of the measures identified to address concerns included security awareness training and having theft and diversion procedures.

On 11 December 2012, the National Measurement Institute; a division within the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education, announced the removal of an exemption for a subset of electricity meters installed from 1 January 2013 onwards. Since 1995 electricity meters have been exempt from national requirements to be pattern approved and verified to allow time for the necessary standards and infrastructure to be established. Pattern approval is the process of testing and assessing a type of electricity meter to ensure that it is capable of maintaining accuracy when subjected to influences and disturbances such as temperature variations, electrical interferences, voltage variations and harmonics. Verification is the process of assessing whether an individual meter operates within specified limits of error.

Financial advisers often play an important role in helping their retail clients choose financial products.  This advice should therefore take into account the clients’ needs, and the performance and other characteristics of the product.  Recent trends towards industry consolidation have created interdependencies between financial advisers, product providers and investment platforms.  These associations mean that many advisers effectively act as a product pipeline.  Of the remainder, the majority receive commission from product issuers which act as an incentive to promote certain products.

Electricity transmission and distribution, gas pipelines and distribution networks (energy networks) are known as ‘natural monopoly’ industries. This means that any particular geographic area is most efficiently served by a single provider (as opposed to multiple, competing providers). To manage the risk of monopoly pricing (that is, prices that are inefficiently high) the prices charged by energy networks are regulated. For the most part, first-instance pricing determinations are made by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER). The AER considers the network provider’s operating and capital expenses and commercial returns, and forecasts its revenue requirements. This in turn determines the network tariff charged through retailers to consumers. Network pricing decisions are currently reviewable by the Australian Competition Tribunal.