EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the Authority of the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Regulator
Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (Registration Fees) Act 2012
Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (Registration Fees) Instrument (No. 2) 2019
Purpose and Operation
The Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Act 2012 requires models of products that are covered by a Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (GEMS) Determination to be registered and provides offences for supply or commercial use of GEMS products that are not registered. A person may apply for registration under section 41 of the Act. Registration ensures that the GEMS Regulator can identify which products are being sold in Australia, to assist monitoring of compliance with the Act and ascertain trends in product energy efficiency.
Section 8 of the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (Registration Fees) Act 2012 permits the GEMS Regulator to specify fees, by legislative instrument, which must be paid when a person applies to register a product under section 41 of the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Act 2012.
Registration fees assist the GEMS Regulator to recover a portion of the costs incurred in registering products under, and to monitor compliance with, the GEMS legislation. Cost recovery assists the GEMS Regulator to deliver improved registration and compliance monitoring services, for the benefit of regulated Australian businesses and the Australian public.
The Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (Registration Fees) Instrument (No. 2) 2019 (the Instrument) specifies the fees for each regulated product class that must be paid when a person applies to register a model of a regulated product. A new instrument was required to reflect the making and registration of two replacement GEMS Determinations, to ensure that the registration fee for the products covered by those Determinations were properly set. No changes were made to the registration fees themselves. The replacement GEMS Determinations were the:
- Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (Household Refrigerating Appliances) Determination 2019; and the
- Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (Refrigerated Cabinets) Determination 2019.
Consultation
The Australian Government conducted extensive consultation with Australian businesses throughout the development of the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Act 2012, as well as consulting with the governments of New Zealand and Australian states and territories, all of which participate in the over twenty-year old Equipment Energy Efficiency Program.
Consultation specifically addressed registration fees to recover registration and compliance monitoring costs. Australian businesses provided strong support for fees to recover these costs on the understanding that it would assist the GEMS Regulator to improve registration and compliance monitoring services.
This Instrument updates the references to GEMS Determinations in the schedule of fees only, with no change to the specified fee for any of the regulated product classes, and consequently further consultation was not considered necessary.
Authority
Section 8 of the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (Registration Fees) Act 2012 permits the GEMS Regulator to specify fees, by legislative instrument, which must be paid when a person applies to register a product under section 41 of the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Act 2012.
This Instrument also relies upon subsection 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 as the basis for revoking the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (Registration Fees) Instrument 2017. Subsection 33(3) provides that, where an Act confers a power to make, grant or issue any instrument of a legislative or administrative character (including rules, regulations or by-laws), the power shall be construed as including a power exercisable in the like manner and subject to the like conditions (if any) to repeal, rescind, revoke, amend or vary any such instrument.
Detailed description of provisions in the Instrument
Part 1 Preliminary
1 Name of Instrument
Section 1 sets out the title of the Instrument as the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (Registration Fees) Instrument 2019.
2 Commencement
Section 2 sets out the commencement arrangements for the Instrument, which commences on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.
3 Revocation
Section 3 revokes the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (Registration Fees) Instrument 2018.
4 Object
Section 4 sets out the object of the Instrument, which is to specify registration fees payable when a person applies to register a product under the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Act 2012.
5 Interpretation
Section 5 clarifies that any terms in the Instrument that are defined in the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Act 2012 or the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (Registration Fees) Act 2012 have the same meaning, unless otherwise specified.
Part 2 Fees
6 Fees
Consistent with paragraph 9(1) (a) of the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (Registration Fees) Act 2012, the Instrument specifies the amount for each registration fee.
Section 6 specifies fees in a Schedule to the Instrument. The table in the Schedule lists four fee bands (Column 1), sets the amount of the fee for each fee band (Column 2) and specifies which of the fee bands (listed in Column 1) apply to applications to register products against the relevant GEMS Determination (listed in Column 3).
The Schedule has been amended to reflect the making and registration of the following replacement GEMS determinations:
- Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (Household Refrigerating Appliances) Determination 2019 (commencing 2 years after registration);
- Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (Refrigerated Cabinets) Determination 2019 (commencing 1 year after registration).
For the period until the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (Household Refrigerating Appliances) Determination 2019 and the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (Refrigerated Cabinets) Determination 2019 commence, both they and the GEMS Determinations they will revoke upon commencement are required to appear in the Instrument, as the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Act 2012 provides that a registrant may elect to register a GEMS product against either the old or new determination during this period.
The amount of the fee for each product type was calculated with reference to identified costs of registration staff and the registration system, as well as costs incurred in the inspection and monitoring program, such as purchasing and testing equipment. Relevant costs may be reassessed periodically throughout the life of the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Act 2012 to ensure that fees represent an appropriate level of cost recovery.