The Seamless Economy Regulatory Project - How Regulations are Developed

In 21st century Australia, regulations identified for reform as part of the Seamless Economy agenda are made in this way.

An area for reform is identified by either COAG or one of its working groups.

In most (although not all) circumstances, the most appropriate of the 31 ministerial councils and committees will develop an intergovernmental agreement, which forms in effect the drafting instructions for the national legislation.

The Agreement is then usually put to COAG for ratification.

A process is then put in place to develop the harmonised legislation identified in the agreement.

One of three legislative models is usually used to capture the policy agreed by the participants in the COAG process:

1. the 'applied law' model – where one jurisdiction passes a 'template law, and the others adopt that law as a law of the jurisdiction;

2. the'national model legislation' model - where legislation is essentially the same, but allows for some jurisdictional variation; or

3. the 'reference' model – giving the Commonwealth the power to legislate in the relevant area, with the States leaving the field. This was the option taken for non-bank deposit making institutions as part of the Seamless Economy process.

Varying levels of public participation are offered in the IGA/legislation formulation process.

Ultimately, harmonised legislation is produced, with the product going to the relevant legislature(s) for passage.

The next four articles discuss how the harmonised legislation process of some of the identified regulatory hot spots are developing.