Costly rules and regulations hinder productivity and climate action, research shows
“Against construction and technology industries with turnover in the hundreds of billions, the cost of making standards freely available will be modest, but the benefits to compliance, competition and innovation will be significant,” he said.
“If Australia sticks to ad hoc, overlapping and slow-moving standards, consumers will continue to pay more and wait longer for clean technologies, businesses will hesitate to invest, and climate targets will remain out of reach.”
The Productivity Commission is examining a proposal to align Australian standards with international versions. Its interim report found such a move could deliver economic benefits of between $1.9 billion and $3.8 billion a year through cost reductions and access to overseas versions of goods.
Much of this cost reduction will come from businesses not having to meet specific Australian standards or carrying out specialist testing to meet local requirements.
In its submission to this inquiry, Standards Australia warned that such a move could expose Australia to “unacceptable security, sovereignty and economic risks”.
Furniture giant IKEA noted that the latest standards caused certain problems and costs.
The tipping furniture standard applies to all furniture over 50 centimeters in height and requires extra warning labels, in-store signage and extra safety information in user manuals.
IKEA has found Australia’s specialist standards are making life more difficult and expensive.Credit: access point
The American version of the standard covers clothing storage units, focusing on the stability of the product. The Australian standard affects 500 individual IKEA products, spanning 50 suppliers worldwide.
“This includes additional supply chain costs as well as significant logistics, sourcing and local cost impacts, including the unboxing and labeling of thousands of products already onshore,” he said.
Menezes said it was not possible for Standards Australia to continue charging for access to the standards because the extra cost of selling digital documents was zero.
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The organization made access to national building codes free in 2015 during the Abbott government. However, the standards included in the code are still paywalled.
He said it was necessary to move to a default system using international standards or standards taken directly from another country, and a specialist Australian standard was needed to demonstrate this.
“Special rules should only be established where there is a compelling, demonstrable local need, such as a different climatic condition, a safety risk specific to Australian use or a clear incompatibility with established infrastructure,” he said.
