Published Impact Analyses

The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) is looking at options to reduce the risk of cyclone damage to buildings in cyclone affected regions. In this consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) the ABCB considers options regarding regional boundaries and design requirements which could reduce the risk of damage to buildings. The ABCB released this RIS for public consultation over 30 July to 10 September 2010. The information provided in the submissions received during consultation will help guide the development of the decision RIS and the Building Code. The ABCB will need to provide the OBPR with the decision RIS for approval before it decides on the proposed changes. The OBPR has approved the consultation RIS.

The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) is looking at options to reduce the risk of people slipping, tripping and falling in buildings. In this consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS), the ABCB reviews:

COAG agreed on 16 August 2010 to publish COAG Regulation Impact Statements (RISs) on the Best Practice Regulation Updates website from 1 July 2010. When COAG, Ministerial councils or national standard setting bodies develop regulatory proposals with significant impacts on businesses and individuals COAG’s Best Practice Regulation Requirements must be satisfied, and a RIS must be prepared for both the consultation and decision-making stages. The OBPR will publish COAG RISs and the OBPR’s assessment of the RISs as soon as practicable after the release of the RIS for consultation or the announcement of a policy decision. Where no RIS is prepared this will be reported on Best Practice Regulation Updates as soon as practicable after announcement of the policy decision.

The first RIS to be published on our new web site relates to changes to product disclosure statements. These changes were announced on 23 June. The changes will limit the number of pages in product disclosure statements for superannuation, managed investment schemes, and margin loan products. These measures have been spurred by various independent reports which indicated that under the current arrangements product disclosure statements lacked clarity and contained irrelevant information which was not helpful to investors. The OBPR has approved the RIS.

The new best practice regulation system came into effect on July 1st.  With it comes a new Handbook.  There are a number of changes to the system but the main change is this web site. RISs will now be all in the one spot and they will be put up on this web site shortly after the decision is announced.  Compliance with the best practice requirements will also go ‘live’ with non-compliance reported on this web site. The web site also provides a ‘blog’ facility for you to comment on regulation news items especially RISs.