National Numeracy Review

The deputy Prime Minister announced the National Numeracy Review on 12 July 2008.

Key documents informing the review including Terms of Reference, Background Paper, Discussion Paper, Invitational Forum Summary and Submissions from organisations can be accessed on the Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations website.

COAG National Action Plan on Mental Health – Progress Report 2006-07

This is the first in the series of annual reports for monitoring implementation of the COAG National Action Plan on Mental Health (2006 - 2011). Prepared under the auspice of Australia’s Health Ministers, it describes the progress made in 2006-07, the commencement year of the Action Plan. National Action Plan for Mental Health 2006-2011 - Progress Report 2006-07.

Implementation of the Report on the Regulation and Control of Biological Agents

Information about the progress of implementing the recommendations of the Report is available on the Department of Health and Ageing’s website.

2. The Goods Model

Page Index

2.1 Under the MRA, a good that may legally be sold in one State or Territory may be sold in any other, despite different requirements applying in the second jurisdiction, such as those relating to packaging, labelling, testing, and the product itself. Goods need only comply with the standards or regulations applying in the State in which they are produced or through which they are imported.

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Laws affected by the MRA

2.2 The legislation implementing the MRA (the Mutual Recognition (Commonwealth) Act 1992) overrides any laws that regulate the manufacture or the sale of goods, with certain exceptions (Mutual Recognition Act 1992: s10). Examples of laws overridden include:

  • requirements relating to the production, composition, quality or performance of a good (such as product standards);

  • requirements that a good satisfies certain standards relating to presentation (such as packaging and labelling);

  • requirements that goods be inspected, passed or similarly dealt with (such as conformance assessment requirements); or

  • any other requirement that would prevent or restrict, or would have the effect of preventing or restricting, the sale of the good.

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Laws not affected by the MRA

2.3 The MRA does not affect the operation of any laws to the extent that they regulate (Mutual Recognition Act 1992: s11):

  • the manner of sale of goods or the manner in which sellers conduct or are required to conduct their business, so long as those laws apply equally to both locally produced and imported goods. Examples include the contractual aspects of the sale of goods, the registration of sellers, the persons to whom goods may or may not be sold, and the circumstances in which goods may or may not be sold.

  • the transportation, storage or handling of goods, so long as those laws apply equally to both locally produced and imported goods, and are directed at matters affecting public health and safety or at preventing, minimising or regulating environmental pollution; or

  • the inspection of goods, provided inspection is not a prerequisite to the sale of goods, the laws apply equally to both locally produced and imported goods, and the laws are directed to protecting health, safety or the environment.

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Permanent Exemptions

2.4 Certain laws relating to the sale of goods are permanently exempt from the MRA in areas the participating parties considered that the application of mutual recognition principles was not appropriate (Mutual Recognition Act 1992: Schedule 2). These include laws relating to quarantine, endangered species, firearms, fireworks, indecent material, and ozone protection, as well as a small number of State-specific laws, including a Tasmanian law relating to the sale of specific fish and a South Australian law relating to beverage containers.

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Temporary Exemptions

2.5 The regulatory requirements relating to certain goods or classes of goods can be temporarily exempted from the operation of the Agreement for a period of up to 12 months. A jurisdiction may unilaterally invoke a Temporary Exemption if it considers that the standards or regulatory requirements applying to a good are such that the sale of the good could give rise to a threat to health, safety or the environment. Temporary Exemptions are invoked by the gazettal of a regulation by the designated person (eg a State Governor or relevant Minister) of a participating party. Temporary Exemptions apply only in the jurisdiction which invokes the exemption.

2.6 A Temporary Exemption covering a certain good or law operates for a maximum of 12 months. Before the exemption period expires, the relevant Ministerial Council must endeavour to determine whether the regulatory requirements, the subject of the exemption, should be amended and, if so, what the new regulatory requirements should be.

2.7 Ministerial Council determinations are made by a vote in favour by not less than two-thirds of the participating parties to the MRA. They must be made before the 12 month exemption period expires. Once a Ministerial Council has made its determination, it needs to seek approval for the determination from the Heads of Government of the participating parties. If at least one-third of Heads of Government does not disapprove the determination within three months of its receipt, the determination is taken to be endorsed by Heads of Government.

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Referrals

2.8 A participating jurisdiction may, at any time, refer the matter of the standard applicable to a good to the relevant Ministerial Council for determination. This must be substantially for the purpose of protecting health, safety or the environment. When a Ministerial Council receives a referral, it should make a determination in respect of the standards applying to the good within 12 months.

2.9 Referrals set in train Ministerial Council processes similar to those under the Temporary Exemption mechanism. The key difference is that the good to which the referral relates is not exempted from the scheme during the period in which a Ministerial Council determination is developed. Ministerial Council decisions arising out of a referral should be implemented by the relevant jurisdictions as soon as practicable.

Last Updated: 28 July, 2008
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