Published Impact Analyses

Regulation Impact Statement – Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment

On 6 October 2020 the Australian Government announced the proposal to harmonise and streamline plant export regulation, as part of Budget 2020/21.

The RIS assesses the burden that existing regulations place on Australian plant product exporters. Mainly, that existing regulations are complex and variable and place unnecessary costs onto business.  The RIS considers a variety of related but separate opportunities, including:

Regulation Impact Statement – Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment

On 6 October 2020 the Australian Government announced the proposal to modernise the regulation of meat exports by partly removing regulatory burden and rewarding compliant regulated entities, as part of Budget 2020/21.

The RIS assesses the cost that existing regulations place on Australian meat processes, which render the relevant Australian businesses at a global disadvantage against international competitors. The RIS proposes three options:

Regulation Impact Statement – Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications

On 30 September 2020, the Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP announced changes to streamline and simplify the drama, documentaries and children’s content ‘sub-quota’ Australian content rules for broadcasters.

Regulation Impact Statement – Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications

On 30 September 2020, the Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP announced changes to the Australian Screen Production Incentive (ASPI) as part of a package of media reforms.

The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications (the Department) prepared a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) which outlined issues with the current ASPI settings. The preferred option was to make key changes to specific ASPI settings to ensure they provide support to the Australian screen production industry that reflects the modern media landscape.

Regulation Impact Statement – Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications

On 1 September 2020, the Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP announced changes to the Telecommunications in New Developments (TIND) policy.

The changes are designed to provide people in Australia moving into new apartment and housing developments with better and cheaper access to high speed broadband services, by removing competitive constraints on NBN Co under the previous TIND policy, noting there are generic and telecommunications-specific laws to deal with anti-competitive conduct and NBN Co is subject to Commonwealth competitive neutrality policy.

COAG Consultation Regulation Impact Statement – Australian Energy Market Commission

On 24 September 2020, the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) released a draft rule determination for the National Electricity Amendment (Compensation for Market Participants Affected by Intervention Events) Rule 2020 and a corresponding Draft Rule for consultation.

This draft determination is to make a more preferable draft rule which changes the way that compensation is calculated when market participants are dispatched differently as a result of an AEMO intervention event which triggers intervention pricing.

The draft determination has been assessed by the Office of Best Practice Regulation as compliant with requirements for a Council of Australian Governments Consultation RIS.

COAG Consultation Regulation Impact Statement – Australian Energy Market Commission

COAG Consultation Regulation Impact Statement – Transport and Infrastructure Ministers

On 28 September 2020, the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONSRS) released a consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) examining the case for introducing in-cab audio and video safety recording requirements for rail operators in Australia.

The RIS examines the evidence for both voluntary adoption of, and mandatory requirements for, in-cab audio and video recordings in rail operations in Australia, to provide enhanced information to investigators, for the purposes of improving rail safety outcomes.

The consultation RIS has been assessed by the Office of Best Practice Regulation as compliant with requirements for a Council of Australian Governments Consultation RIS.

Regulation Impact Statement – Therapeutic Goods Administration

On 18 September 2020, a delegate of the Secretary of the Department of Health made a declaration under section 7 of the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989, which clarifies that certain sports supplements are therapeutic goods.

The declaration is intended to ensure that these sports supplements are subject to regulatory controls commensurate with their level of risk, and that consumers are able to make more fully‑informed decisions. It also addresses existing legal ambiguity to enable more timely compliance and enforcement action by the relevant authorities when safety concerns are identified.

Remaking of sunsetting instrument without significant amendments – Department of Health

On 4 September 2020, the Department of Health remade without significant amendments the Therapeutic Goods (Excluded Purposes) Specification 2010, which will sunset on 1 October 2020. The newly made Therapeutic Goods (Medical Devices - Excluded Purposes) Specification 2020  comes into effect on 1 October 2020 and will sunset on 1 October 2030.

The Specification, which is made under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989, was first made in 2010 to set out exclusions from the permitted supply of specific categories of in-vitro diagnostic medical devices for self‑testing.