Bill Transforming Australia's Regulatory Framework Enters Parliament

A key piece of primary legislation, Australia’s Industrial Chemicals Bill 2017, has entered the House of Representatives, where it received its first reading and second reading debate on 1 June.

The bill is principles-based and will establish a new, more 'streamlined' legal framework for the regulation of industrial chemicals in Australia.

It replaces the existing National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (Ninas), established in 1989, with a new agency, the Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme (AICIS), and creates the post of executive director for the organisation.

In parallel, Nicnas is continuing with its extensive public consultation exercise on the details of the new regime. A recently issued fifth consultation paper seeks feedback on matters to go into the delegated legislation and the details of the implementation of the legislation by the AICIS. In particular, these cover the categorisation and assessment of industrial chemicals not included on the Australian Inventory of Industrial Chemicals.

The consultation runs until 12 July and there will be public workshops, in Sydney on 16 June and Melbourne on 28 June.

A further round of consultations on the delegated legislation and guidance material is expected in August and September, with the reforms guidance material to be published in January 2018.

A central aim of the bill, says the government, is to create an incentive to move away from higher risk chemicals by reducing regulatory requirements on chemicals that are judged as low risk. For a wide range of chemicals, industry will be able to decide whether a substance is "exempt", "reportable", or whether it "requires assessment" by the AICIS.

The government anticipates that self-assessment of lower risk chemicals will reduce the number of chemicals subject to assessment by the regulator by 70%.

Other key elements are:

> aligning Australia with the regulatory regimes of its main trading partners. In his speech in the House on 1 June, moving the bill for second reading, assistant health minister David Gillespie said the government had worked closely with regulators in the US and Canada to ensure that, wherever possible, definitions are aligned and key concepts are consistent;

> enabling Australia to work from rulings and use evidence from other regimes – known as an "international pathway";

> shifting from pre-market assessment of chemical substances to a greater focus on post-introduction verification and evaluation of self-assessment decisions; and

> changes to the confidentiality arrangements, including the introduction of "masked" chemical names.

Part of the bill will also establish a ban on cosmetics tested on animals.

The legislation comes as a package of six bills. In addition to the Industrial Chemicals Bill 2017, which is the most important, there are three bills covering funding the new scheme (that is, charges and customs/excise), a bill covering transitional arrangements between the old regime and the new, and a bill of early reforms.

The Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Amendment Bill 2017 is to implement early reforms aimed at reducing the regulatory burden ahead of the main bill. Its main provisions are to:

> define some new synthetic polymers as low-risk;

> exempt polymers of low concern from notification requirements;

> remove the requirement for annual reports to Nicnas for permits and self-assessed assessment certificates; and

> remove the requirement for a report on value of chemicals imported/produced in the year of registration.

The Industrial Chemicals (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2017 creates transitional arrangements for the move between Nicnas and the AICIS, where approvals under the old system will be automatically deemed approvals under the AICIS. Notably, decisions on the confidentiality of business information under Nicnas will remain valid.

Each bill will have to go to a third reading in the House if it is amended. This version will then need to be considered by the Senate. Once the final text is agreed by both chambers, it will go to the Governor-General for assent.

See the page on the consultation paper below, for details of how to submit comments and on the public workshops.