Annual Review of Regulatory Burdens on Business: Manufacturing and Distributive Trades

Report

  • Regulation of the manufacturing and distributive trades sectors is complex and diverse, involving all tiers of government. This study proposes the reduction of specific Australian Government regulations which are unnecessarily burdensome for businesses in these sectors. These initiatives build on the significant amount of reform currently underway, including the expanded COAG regulation reform agenda.
  • Many of the concerns raised by businesses related to jurisdictional differences in the implementation and enforcement of regulations. While governments are pursuing greater uniformity, this process is ongoing but incomplete, leading to a level of frustration by businesses.
  • A common concern of businesses was poor communication with regulators. The information provided by regulators could be difficult to access, inconsistently communicated or costly to understand. Poor communication can also be a barrier to small businesses entering markets as they may be less able either to employ or to contract expert assistance to understand the regulations affecting them.
  • Concerns which were the subject of other reviews (such as chemicals and plastics) have been referred to the relevant agency. This review has identified and addressed three main areas.
  • Food regulation can be made less burdensome by:
    • increasing national consistency of regulation
    • improving timeliness and transparency of decision making by the Australia New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council
    • ensuring public health issues are considered by the Health Ministers' Conference before referring any food regulation-related issues to the Australia New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council.
  • The frameworks for approving and registering new medicines and medical devices can be streamlined by:
    • reducing the time and cost, and improving the transparency, of assessment processes by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)
    • improving coordination between regulators where regulatory processes overlap
    • removing the TGA's monopoly on conformity assessment for Australian manufacturers of medical devices by allowing manufacturers to choose a certification body approved by the TGA
    • a comprehensive review of health technology assessment processes.
  • Compliance and enforcement of environmental regulations can be improved to ensure the policy objectives are being achieved and that complying businesses are not disadvantaged. These regulations include:
    • the Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Scheme
    • energy labelling and minimum energy performance standards.