Proposed Radiation Control Regulation 2012: Regulatory Impact Statement

The Environment Protection Authority recognises that the increasing use of radioactive sources poses significant risks to human and environmental health and safety, and is proposing a new Regulation to replace the current Radiation Control Regulation 2003, which is due for automatic statutory repeal on 1 September 2013. The draft Regulation aims to protect operators, employees and the public from the misuse of radioactive sources and radiation equipment.

A regulatory impact statement examines the benefits and costs of the proposed Regulation and compares these with a base case of no Regulation.

The draft Regulation and regulatory impact statement (RIS) have been developed in consultation with the NSW Radiation Advisory Council, affected industries and government agencies in NSW and other states and territories. Many of the existing provisions have been maintained in the draft Regulation.

The draft Regulation:

• enacts the Minister’s commitment to ban the commercial use of solaria (ultraviolet tanning units) in NSW from 31 December 2014
• simplifies the registration system for companies and organisations by abolishing the need for multiple individual registrations for each item of equipment and replacing it with a single management licence
• incorporates the requirements of the National Security Code for Radiological Material. This includes introducing measures to physically secure high risk radioactive sources from deliberate misuse or harm and requiring the preparation of security plans by organisations that are responsible for them.
• changes fees associated with licensing to reflect the costs of introducing, administering and enforcing the licensing system.

Download: Proposed Radiation Control Regulation 2012: Regulatory impact statement (20120469risradiatcontreg.pdf, 446KB)

Page last updated: 21 September 2012