EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

 

Select Legislative Instrument 2005 No. 130

 

Issued by the Authority of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for

Health and Ageing

 

Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Act 1989

 

Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Amendment

Regulations 2005 (No. 1)

 

Section 111 of the Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Act 1989 (the Act) provides in part that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.  

 

The object of the Act is to provide for a national system of notification and assessment of industrial chemicals for the purposes of aiding in the protection of the Australian people and the environment; providing information and making recommendations about industrial chemicals to Commonwealth, State and Territory bodies; giving effect to Australia’s obligations under international agreements; and collecting statistics in relation to these chemicals.

 

Subsection 110(1) of the Act provides that the regulations may prescribe fees for specified services.  Subsections 110(2) to (6) set out details for when fees are due, the payment schedules and other arrangements.  The fees for services defined in section 110 are prescribed in the Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Regulations 1990.

 

The purpose of the Regulations is to increase New Chemical assessment fees and charges for the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS) for 2005-06.  These fees and charges have been increased by 3.63% (rounded to the nearest dollar).  The last increases to New Chemical fees and charges were made on 1 July 2004.  New fees and charges for new assessment and certification provisions designed to simplify the process for low-risk chemicals were introduced for certain New Chemical assessment categories on 23 December 2004. 

 

The increase enables the NICNAS to continue to meet the Government’s requirement that the NICNAS operates on a full cost-recovery basis.  The increase was arrived at by agreement with the NICNAS’s Industry Government Consultative Committee (IGCC).

 

The Act specifies no conditions that need to be met before the power to make the Regulations may be exercised.

 

Details of the Regulations are set out in the Attachment.

 

The Regulations are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003. 

 

The Regulations commence on 1 July 2005.

 

Consultation

NICNAS operates on a fee for service for the assessment of new chemicals and these cost recovery arrangements are reviewed annually using an Industry/Government-agreed activity based costing model.  Whilst the IGCC has agreed in principal for the application of annual CPI adjustments to NICNAS fees and charges this is not automatically applied but is considered in the context of each year’s revenue, expenditure, performance and efficiencies achieved in the operations of the Scheme. The CPI indexation was flagged with the IGCC at the mid-year budget review in November 2004.  On 18 May 2005, the IGCC reviewed the adequacy of the New Chemicals fees and charges for 2005-06. At this meeting, industry members (ACCORD Australasia, Plastics and Chemicals Industries Association, Australian Paint Manufacturers Federation and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry) supported the 3.63% increase in New Chemicals Assessment fees and charges for 2005-06.  The fee increases have also been discussed and agreed with the National Manager, Therapeutic Goods Administration Group of Regulators.

 

Regulation Impact Assessment

The Office of Regulation Review has advised that a Regulation Impact Statement is not required for the amendments, as the proposal is of a minor or machinery nature and does not substantially alter existing arrangements. 

 

 

 

ATTACHMENT  

 

Details of the Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Amendment Regulations 2005 (No. 1)

 

Regulation 1 provides for the Regulations to be referred to as the Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Amendment Regulations 2005 (No. 1).

 

Regulation 2 provides for the Regulations to commence on 1 July 2005.

 

Regulation 3 provides for Schedule 1 to amend the Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Regulations 1990 (the Principal Regulations).

 

Schedule 1 – Amendments

 

Item [1]

This item amends regulation 13 of the Principal Regulations to increase the fees specified in subregulations 13(2), 13(2A), 13(3) and 13(4) by 3.63% (rounded to the nearest dollar).  These fees relate to New Chemical certificate assessment categories. 

 

Item [2]

This item amends Schedule 2 to the Principal Regulations to increase the New Chemical assessment fees and charges in the Schedule by 3.63% (rounded to the nearest dollar).  This increases all fees and charges in the Schedule which are provided for in paragraphs 110(1)(ua) and (ub) of the Act, namely the permit assessment fees and the administrative charges relating to new chemicals activities, with the exception of the NICNAS registration fees.