Australian Regulators Evaluated on Industry-Helpful Practices

The Australian government has developed a framework for measuring the performance of its regulatory agencies, in an effort to increase transparency and cut down on practices that impede the operations of regulated industries.

Under the outcomes-based metrics, regulators like the Therapeutic Goods Administration will be graded on how well they streamline and coordinate their monitoring and compliance programs. Companies should only be asked for information that is needed to meet regulatory objectives and shouldn’t be hit with duplicative requests from different agencies.

Monitoring and inspection programs should be risk-based and take into account the circumstances and needs of the company being inspected, the TGA says.

Other metrics in the framework include clear, targeted and effective communications, compliance actions that are proportionate to the regulatory risk being managed, transparent dealings with industry and continuous improvement of regulatory frameworks.

Reports on the TGA’s performance will be published annually.

The framework takes effect July 1, with the first report cards covering the 2015-2016 fiscal year.

View the performance framework at www.fdanews.com/06-11-15-PerformanceFramework.pdf.  — Kellen Owings