Electrical Equipment Safety Regime Review

For many years Australia has had regulatory systems to provide for the safety of electrical appliances and electrical equipment. These regulatory systems, administered by state and territory regulators, have generally served Australia

On 15 September 2006 the Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs (MCCA) met and supported a review by the Electrical Regulatory Authorities Council (ERAC) of the electrical equipment safety system as it relates to consumer product safety.

ERAC engaged a suitably qualified consulting firm in CaSServ Pty. Ltd. to undertake the review.

An Options Paper was prepared and public consultation forums on this paper were run in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Auckland during August 2007.

From this process has come a final report outlining recommended actions to achieve a more consistent and effective system for the approval of electrical equipment for sale in Australia and New Zealand.

ERAC met in December 2007 to consider this report and will now decide how to progress the recommendations. A National Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) is being prepared to assist ERAC in this regard. This RIS will outline options for implementation of the review. 

A full copy of the Final Report of the ERAC Review of the Electrical Equipment Safety System and its Annex can be accessed here (Requires Zip Compression Utility).