Better Regulation of Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals

The Government has identified regulation of chemicals and plastics as a regulatory reform hot spot. A program of reform has been agreed by the Council of Australian Governments.

As part of this agenda, the Australian Government is continuing its work to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority; cut red tape in the regulation of pesticides and veterinary medicines; and ensure appropriate health and safety standards for people and the environment.

The government is committed to improving the system that regulates pesticides and veterinary medicines. There have already been some improvements through the government’s Better Regulation Ministerial Partnership (involving Senator the Hon. Joe Ludwig, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Senator the Hon. Nick Sherry, Minister Assisting on Deregulation) and through early harvest reforms requested by the Council of Australian Governments. These improvements relate to promulgation of maximum residue limits into the Food Standards Code; and streamlined regulatory processes for specific agricultural and veterinary chemicals and approval of labels.

The Council of Australian Governments also requested the development of a single, national scheme to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the regulation of agricultural and veterinary chemicals. This includes the assessment and registration functions currently undertaken by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority, as well as regulations controlling the use of chemicals, for which the states and territories currently have responsibility.

In conjunction with the development of a single national scheme, the government is developing reforms aimed at:

  • providing a more efficient way to look at ‘chemicals of concern’, putting the onus on industry to justify registration against contemporary standards
  • using the science and studies from overseas, to their full extent
  • providing a comprehensive risk framework; and
  • establishing an independent science panel; to report progress with reviews and registrations.

In November 2010, a discussion paper on the proposed reforms was released and stakeholder comment was sought. Following the consultation the government has developed a number of legislative and administrative reforms to its management of agricultural and veterinary chemicals.

The amendments are aimed at:

  • providing a transparent and comprehensive risk framework to deliver more predictable outcomes
  • providing a more efficient way to look at ‘chemicals of concern’
  • modernising the APVMA’s compliance and enforcement powers
  • using the science and studies from overseas to their full extent
  • establishing an independent science panel; to report progress with reviews and registrations and the assessment of chemicals according to risk
  • improving the APVMA’s operational and administrative functions.

Reform measures proposed

Following this stakeholder consultation, a range of measures was developed and considered by the Australian Government along with a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS). This RIS underpinned the Australian Government’s consideration of the proposed reform measures and provides information about the impacts of the proposed reforms. The RIS has been approved by the Office of Best Practice Regulation (reference 11523) and is available below:

Release of an exposure draft of the new legislation

Recognising the complexity of agricultural and veterinary chemical regulation, the government is releasing an exposure draft of the amending legislation for further consultation with the community.

The Bill would amend the current Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (Administration) Act 1992; the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Act 1994; and the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemical Products (Collection of Levy) Act 1994.

Content is offered in two formats for accessibility purposes.

To help stakeholders, a range of information is available:

Further information on how the APVMA proposes to operationalise the reforms indicated in the Draft Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Legislation Amendment Bill can be found on the APVMA Better Regulation Reform page.

A series of fact sheets have been prepared on specific topics

The DRAFT compilations of the above legislation have not been drafted by the Office of Legislative Drafting and Publishing.

While care has been taken to prepare this material, readers are invited to form their own view of the provisions in the draft Bill, and not rely solely on this material.

Readers should be aware that the proposed legislative amendments may change as a result of consultation and that this would affect the validity of the explanatory material in the guide and DRAFT compilations of the above legislation.

Consultation

The government is inviting comment from the community on reforms to agricultural and veterinary chemical legislation until 29 February 2012. To the extent possible, submissions should be framed against the draft amendment Bill.

As the government is anticipating introducing the legislative reforms into Parliament soon after the close of the comment period in 2012, it would be of assistance if you could provide any comments as soon as possible. Passage of the legislation is anticipated later in 2012.

While submissions may be lodged electronically or by post, electronic lodgement by email is preferred. For accessibility reasons, please email responses in a Word or RTF format. An additional PDF version may also be submitted.

All information (including name and address details) contained in submissions will be made available to the public on the department’s website, unless you indicate that you would like all or part of your submission to remain in confidence. Automatically generated confidentiality statements in emails do not suffice for this purpose. Respondents who would like all or part of their submission to remain in confidence should provide this information marked as such in a separate attachment.

Comments should be submitted to

Agvet Chemicals - Early Harvest and APVMA Reforms Team
Agricultural Productivity Division
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Email: APVMA Reforms Team
Email: agvetreform@daff.gov.au
Phone: +61 2 6272 3933

Post:
GPO Box 858
Canberra  ACT  2601

View submissions received.

Last reviewed:
08 Feb 2012
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