Each Australian Government agency that has responsibility for business regulation is required to publish a regulatory plan on its website each year. The regulatory plan deals with changes within the agency's area of responsibility and contains information about:
- changes to business regulation which have occurred since the beginning of the previous financial year; and
- activities planned in the current financial year which could lead to changes to business regulation.
What regulation does a regulatory plan cover?
A regulatory plan covers business regulation. This includes primary legislation, subordinate legislation, quasi-regulation or treaties which directly affect business, have a significant indirect effect on business, or restrict competition.
Quasi-regulation refers to rules or arrangements where governments influence businesses to comply, but which do not form part of explicit government regulation.
A regulatory plan does not include information about the following:
- regulations of a minor or machinery nature that do not substantially alter existing arrangements;
- regulations that involve consideration of specific Government purchases;
- regulations of a state or self-governing territory that apply in a non-self governing territory; and
- anticipated activity about which it would be inappropriate to publish information on grounds of confidentiality.
In addition, there may be regulatory activities undertaken during the next financial year which have not been included in a regulatory plan because they could not be foreseen when the plan was prepared.
In view of these exclusions, users should not take a regulatory plan to be a comprehensive source of information on past or potential changes to business regulation.