On 12 June 2012 the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced that the Payment Systems Board decided to vary the Standards relating to merchant surcharging on credit and scheme debit cards. The removal of no‑surcharge rules has allowed merchants to pass on the cost of credit and scheme debit card transactions to their customers via a surcharge should they choose to do so. The variation allows card scheme rules to limit surcharges to the reasonable cost of card acceptance. The variation continues to ensure that merchants can fully recover their card acceptance costs. The varied Standards will come into force on 1 January 2013. The Bank has noted that some parties in consultation expressed a desire for more clarification as to the meaning of ‘the reasonable cost of acceptance’ in the varied Standards. The Bank is therefore giving consideration to publishing a Guidance Note.
Published Impact Analyses
Official website for Published Impact Analyses for decisions announced by the Australian Government, Ministerial Forums and National Standard Setting Bodies.
On 15 June 2012, the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education released a COAG Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) on behalf of the COAG Standing Committee on Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment. The Consultation RIS examines reforms to improve the collection of data in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector to support government decision making and increase transparency. Current data collection requirements for VET activity have lead to less than half of all Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) contributing to data on their VET activity. The Consultation RIS identifies the problems partial data collection presents for consumer and government decision making and the quality of training, as well as outlining the desired objective and options for addressing the issue.
On 25 June 2012, the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) received correspondence from Senator the Hon Eric Abetz expressing concerns that the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment Bill 2012 would have a significant compliance burden and that a RIS should have been required. Based on information provided by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, OBPR advised that a RIS was not required for the proposal. This was based on information received following the National Workplace Relations Consultative Council meeting. The communiqué provided to the OBPR following the meeting included information from relevant stakeholders (who will be subject to the new regulations) that the new regulations would not generate any significant compliance burden. More information on the OBPR’s assessment is included in the attached letter responding to Senator Abetz.
On 14 June 2012 the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities released the Government’s final proposed network of marine reserves in Commonwealth waters. The network covers five marine regions—the Coral Sea, the South-West, the Temperate East, the North and the North-West. The broad objective of the network is to further conserve biodiversity and provide some protection against current and emerging threats to the marine environment. Stakeholders will have 60 days to comment on whether they support the proposed network. A decision will then be made on whether the marine reserves will be formally proclaimed under national environmental law. A Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) was prepared by the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. The RIS was assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation.
On 13 June 2012, the Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Senator the Hon Penny Wong, and the Assistant Treasurer (and Minister Assisting for Deregulation), The Hon David Bradbury MP, released the Australian Government's first annual report on regulation reform, Streamlined Effective Productive: an Annual Update on the Australian Government deregulation agenda. The report provides information on the regulatory review and reform measures achieved by the Australian Government in 2011 and 2012. The report also provides an update on the future deregulation agenda.
On 8 June 2012 the Standing Council on Energy and Resources (SCER) agreed that the state and territory governments will assess the existing awareness initiatives to address the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning within their jurisdictions, identify gaps or areas for improvements, and implement new awareness initiatives, as necessary. The Decision Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) for the Gas Appliance (Carbon Monoxide) Safety Strategy found that the most effective measure to address the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning is an appropriately designed and well-targeted public awareness campaign complemented by existing jurisdictional initiatives to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place. The Decision Regulation Impact Statement was prepared by the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism and has been assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation.
The Australian Government announced in the 2008-09 Budget that it would increase income tax thresholds for the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS). The changes were subsequently introduced in the Tax Laws Amendment (Medicare Levy Surcharge Thresholds) Act (No. 2) 2008. A Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) was required for the decision to introduce the increased MLS income thresholds, but was not prepared. The proposal was assessed as non-compliant with the Government’s best practice regulation requirements. As a result, a Post-implementation Review (PIR) was required. The PIR document prepared by the Department of Health and Ageing concluded that the increase in the MLS threshold to $70,000 and the introduction of indexation effectively addressed the problem that the fixed $50,000 threshold would at some stage have resulted in the MLS applying to taxpayers who would not be considered to be on a higher income.
On 22 May 2012, the Minister for Trade and Competitiveness, Craig Emerson, announced that the Australia Government had signed the Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement (MAFTA). Malaysia is Australia’s 10th largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth $16 billion in 2011. The Agreement will build on benefits already flowing to the Australian economy from the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement which commenced in 2010. A Regulation Impact Statement was prepared by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation.
On 31 May 2011, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) released the outcomes of its review of capital standards for general and life insurers. APRA administers licensing and prudential regulation requirements for the insurance industry, as well as issuing binding prudential standards. APRA reviews and amends these requirements in light of developments in international and domestic markets; as well as any identified weaknesses in the existing prudential framework. The Life and General Insurance Capital Review was prompted by recent experiences with widespread natural disasters in Australia; and observations of the capital base of overseas banks and insurers during the global financial crisis.
On 23 May 2011, the Attorney-General introduced to Parliament the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Bill 2012, which among other things includes credit reporting changes. The changes provide for more comprehensive credit reporting with improved privacy protections. The legislative provisions will be supported by a new industry developed credit reporting code of conduct (referred to as a code of practice in the Bill). These changes implement recommendations of the 2008 Australian Law Reform Commission report For Your Information: Australian Privacy Law and Practice.