Charter
According to its charter, the role of the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) is to promote the Australian Government's objective of effective and efficient legislation and regulations. Its functions are to:
- advise government agencies on appropriate quality control mechanisms for the development of regulatory proposals and the review of existing regulations, including whether Regulation Impact Statements (RISs) are required;
- examine RISs and advise decision makers whether they meet the government's requirements and provide an adequate level of analysis, including cost-benefit and risk analysis of appropriate quality;
- advise agencies on assessing business compliance costs and maintain the Business Cost Calculator (BCC) as a regulation costing tool;
- manage other regulatory mechanisms, including Post-implementation Reviews and Annual Regulatory Plans;
- promote the whole-of-government consultation principles and provide clear guidance on best practice consultation with stakeholders to be undertaken as part of the policy development process;
- provide training and guidance to officials to assist them in meeting the assessment requirements to justify regulatory proposals;
- provide technical assistance to officials on cost-benefit analysis and consultation processes;
- report annually on compliance with the government's requirements for Regulation Impact Statements and consultation, and on regulatory reform developments generally;
- maintain a central online public register of all RISs;
- provide advice to ministerial councils and national standard-setting bodies on Council of Australian Governments guidelines that apply when such bodies make regulations; and
- monitor regulatory reform developments in the states and territories, and in other countries, in order to assess their relevance to Australia.
Contact for information on this page: OBPR contacts page