Published Impact Analyses

Regulation Impact Statement – Department of Social Services

Post–implementation Review – Department of Health

In April 2010 the then Prime Minister announced a decision to require all tobacco products to be sold in plain packaging. The regulation also standardised the appearance of the tobacco products themselves. A Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) was required but not finalised before the decision. Consequently, under the Government’s best practice regulation process a Post‑implementation Review (PIR) was required. The measure was fully implemented from 1 December 2012. A PIR was completed by the Department of Health in February 2016 and was assessed as compliant by the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR). Regulatory costings have been agreed with the OBPR. The Department of Health subsequently provided an addendum, dated 19 May 2016, to the analysis contained in Appendix A to the PIR.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) remade the ASIC class order [CO 02/314]: Employee redundancy funds: relief without significant amendments on 9 December 2015. The Class Order was remade for an interim period of 24 months (to expire on 1 October 2018) to provide sufficient time for Government to consider the findings from the Final Report of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption. Class Order 02/314 exempts employee redundancy funds and operators of these funds from complying with the managed investments and associated provisions contained within the Corporations Act 2001, including the requirements to:

Regulation Impact Statement – Department of Employment

As reported on this website on 18 September 2015, the Australian Government’s new employment services model, jobactive, commenced on 1 July 2015. A Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) was prepared and certified by the Department of Employment and regulatory cost burden estimates have been prepared. The Department estimates that the new model is likely to reduce regulatory costs by $62.1 million a year compared to the previous arrangements. This estimate has been agreed by the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR). The OBPR’s final assessment is that the Department of Employment is compliant with the Government’s RIS requirements and the RIS is consistent with best practice.

Regulation Impact Statement – Department of Education and Training

Regulation Impact Statement – Australian Tax Office

COAG Decision Regulation Impact Statement – Transport and Infrastructure Council

Independent Review – The Treasury

On 20 October 2015, the Government released its response to the Financial System Inquiry, which was established in late 2013. The Financial System Inquiry Final Report was released on 7 December 2014. The Financial System Inquiry made recommendations relating to financial system resilience, superannuation, innovation, consumer outcomes and regulatory systems. Key recommendations that the Government’s response agreed with were to:

The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) has updated a range of guidance material associated with the Australian Government Guide to Regulation to reflect changes made by the Government in late 2015. The Australian Government Guide to Regulation provides high-level principles for policy makers and outlines a process for developing a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS). There are four types of RISs: Long Form, Standard Form, Short Form and Interim. This revised guidance note describes the circumstances when a Short Form or Interim RIS might be appropriate for a policy proposal.

The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) has updated a range of guidance material associated with the Australian Government Guide to Regulation to reflect changes made by the Government in late 2015. This User Guide is designed to be read alongside the Guide to Regulation. It provides detail on the specifics of developing your Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) and having it assessed by the OBPR. Among other things, this guide will help you decide what type of RIS to undertake and provide helpful step-by-step advice. This revised guidance note incorporates changes made to the number of policy options to be required in a RIS, regulatory cost offsetting processes, and post-implementation review arrangements, as well as the introduction of an Interim RIS. Further details on these processes can be found in the relevant guidance note. The User Guide also refers to a One page RIS executive summary template file which is attached to this web post.