Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697635466720.pdf (Australia)
·".. Australian Government \, ' ' ~ · Department of Immigration and Border Protection Inquiry into non conforming building products Senate Economics References Committee Non-conforming building productsSubmission 56 Table of Contents Introduction ........... ... ... .... .......... .............. .......... ..... ....... .............................................................. 3 Portfolio Submission ......... ....... ......................... ................. ......................................................... 3 The role of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection ........ .................................... 3 Powers in relation to non-conforming building products ............ ...................................... .. ...... .. 3 Practicalities of enforcement at the border ..................................................................... .. ........ 3 Proposal - going forward ....................................... ... ............................................................... 4 Inquiry into non-conforming building products I 2 Non-conforming building productsSubmission 56 Introduction The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (the Department) is responsible for immigration and customs border policy.
The Department's mission is to protect Australia's border and manage the movement of people and goods across it.

While the Department does not have a direct regulatory role in relation to non-conforming building products, the Department does recognise the need for an effective regulatory framework to protect the community from dangerous goods.
This submission provides an outline of the role of the Department in relation to non-conforming building products and addresses Part c(iii) - "surveillance and screening of imported building products" and Part d - "any other related matters" of the Inquiry's terms of reference.
Portfolio Submission The role of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection One of the many roles of the Department is to prevent, deter and detect the unlawful entry of prohibited , restricted or regulated goods into Australia.

In undertaking this role, the Australian Border Force (ABF), as the operational arm of the Department, enforce controls at the border on behalf of numerous government agencies through the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 (Pl Regulations).
The Pl Regulations cover a diverse range of goods which include (but are not limited to) drugs, firearms, weapons, objectionable material and industrial chemicals.

Powers in relation to non-conforming building products The Department does not have any legislative powers to ensure that imported building products conform to building standards or performance levels.

Accordingly, the ABF does not examine or inspect imported building products at the border to assess compliance with standards.
Under the Pl Regulations the ABF has the power to detain goods where they are suspected of containing asbestos.

This includes building products and a range of other goods.

The ABF conducts intelligence led, risk-based targeted responses to goods arriving into Australia.

It is the responsibility of importers to ensure they meet the requirements specified within the Pl Regulations for prohibited and restricted goods upon importation into Australia.
Practicalities of enforcement at the border The terms of reference for the Senate Inquiry include "possible improvements to the current regulatory frameworks for ensuring that building products conform to Australian standards, with particular reference to the effectiveness of ... surveillance and screening of imported building products".
The Department does not consider the introduction of surveillance and screening at the border to be an effective response to minimising the risk that non-conforming building products pose to the Australian community.
The Department considers that the introduction of a border control (for example amendment to the Pl Regulations prescribing non-conforming building products as restricted or prohibited Inquiry into non-conforming building products I 3 Non-conforming building productsSubmission 56 imports) would be difficult and impractical to effectively manage in a border environment.

The reasons are as follows: 1.


An effective determination at the border that a product complied with a particular building standard would generally need to be informed by an understanding of the end-use of the product.

ABF officers would be unable to reliably determine whether the building product will be used or installed correctly.
Accordingly a border control cannot safeguard the community against the risk that building products are not ultimately used for their approved/certified purpose or installed incorrectly.

i) Example one - a consignment of standard plasterboard is entered as being certified to exceed the Australian Standard (AS) 2588.

The certification is confirmed and the plasterboard is released to the importer.
The plasterboard is then used to construct an apartment block and is inappropriately used as a replacement for material that must be fire rated .

Despite the imported product being certified as compliant with a relevant standard, the installation and use of that product presents a safety risk to the community.

ii) Example two - a consignment of piping is imported for use in a fire sprinkler system and is certified as meeting the required standard.
The building contractor fails to install the pipe in the correct location in accordance with the building plan .

Despite the product being certified as compliant with a relevant standard, the incorrect use of that product presents a safety risk to the community.

2.

The term "building product" covers a large variety of goods including (but certainly not limited to) glass/windows, steel , plasterboard, aluminium, cement, stone, wood/timber and panelling.
These products can have a variety of uses, both as building products and in other common applications.

The tariffs lines (i .e.

the classification of goods for the purpose of duty and import control) covering products that could be considered as building products are numerous and likely to encompass in excess of 1,000 separate subheadings.

It is not possible under the tariff system to differentiate goods used as building products and those used for other purposes.
The routine surveillance and screening of imported "building products" would have a considerable impact on the Department's resources and would have the potential to divert resources away from addressing other operational priorities at the border.

3.

Imported building products in a non-finished form that may be considered "non-compliant" may undergo additional processing by Australian businesses to transform the products to comply with standards before being sold or installed.
A border control that simply sought to prohibit non-compliant building products would operate as a blunt instrument and could hinder the legitimate value-add processing operations of Australian businesses.

4.

A determination that a product complies with particular standards will likely require relevant technical expertise and a range of equipment (not ordinarily present in the border environment) to identify and test products to confirm that they meet standards.
These testing processes would increase the clearance times for imported goods, impose a range of regulatory costs on industry and significantly impact the resources of the Department.
Proposal - going forward Notwithstanding the Department's view that the introduction of a border control would not be an effective mechanism to address the risk of non-compliant imported building products, the Inquiry into non-conforming building products I 4 Non-conforming building productsSubmission 56 Department does consider that it can make an important contribution to the regulatory framework in this area.
The Department notes that the current regulatory framework for building products centres on the State and Territory Governments which have legislative powers that adopt the requirements set out in the National Construction Code and provide for building regulation and inspections.

Given the reasons outlined above, the Department considers that determinations relating to the conformance of building products are more effective when assessed at the point of installation, rather than at the point of import.
To support the States and Territories in undertaking compliance and enforcement activities in relation to non-conforming building products, the Department has proposed a potential information sharing arrangement where import data collected by the Department (for the purpose of reporting, detecting and controlling the movement of goods across the Australian border) could be provided to regulators to facilitate their work in this area.
For example the Department could , in consultation with States and Territories, arrange for automatic reporting (of a particular type of product, or a particular entity) to be provided on a regular (eg quarterly basis) to allow regulators to understand the volumes and sources of particular products of interest.
Further, where a State/Territory regulator identified a safety/compliance issue relating to an imported product, the regulator could request specific information from the Department to assist in its compliance activities.

Under this scenario, if the Department was provided information about certain goods of concern imported by a particular entity or sold by an identified supplier, the Department could use this information to identify: i. ii.

iii.
iii.

who else in Australia the supplier may have supplied the same or similar products to, when those goods were supplied, and in what volumes those goods have been imported and the port of entry.

The Department considers that the proposed information sharing arrangement would enable regulators in the States/Territories to effectively target their compliance/enforcement activities to mitigate the risks of non-conforming products harming the Australian community.
This proposal was outlined at the Building Ministers' Forum (BMF) convened on 31 July 2015.

The BMF agreed to establish a Working Group of senior officers to develop strategies to minimise the risks associated with the failure of building products to conform.

The Department will work collaboratively with the States and Territories and relevant Commonwealth agencies in the Working Group to explore options for information sharing to assist regulators to undertake their compliance and enforcement activities.
Inquiry into non-conforming building products I 5 Non-conforming building productsSubmission 56