Standards are valuable – they are guiding documents that promote a net benefit to the Australian community, meaning the value or a benefit to the Australian community exceeds the costs likely to be imposed on suppliers, users and other parties in the community as a result of its development and implementation. As they have a large impact on the community, it’s vital that the development process is well thought out and requires a significant level of expertise and planning.

Standards and regulation

Australian Standards provide specifications, procedures and guidelines that aim to ensure products, services and systems are safe, consistent and reliable. On their own, they are voluntary documents, meaning there is no requirement to comply with standards. However, State and Commonwealth governments may refer to Australian Standards in legislation. When this happens, these referenced standards may become mandatory.

There are a range of regulators who are responsible for enforcing mandatory requirements and standards. For example, on behalf of both federal and state governments, the Australian Building Codes Board is responsible for and maintains the National Construction Code (NCC), which sets the minimum required level for certain buildings’ safety, health, amenity, accessibility and sustainability. The NCC calls upon a range of documents, including Australian Standards.

The Australasian Legal Information Institute’s online database is a helpful resource if you want to check if a standard is referenced in legislation.

Project proposals and key criteria

Standards need to meet certain requirements. The overall standards development process is based on three internationally recognised principles: openness and transparency, consensus and balance of representation.

A project proposal to develop, revise or amend an Australian Standard can be submitted by anyone at any time. Proposals that meet all key criteria are assessed and resourced monthly.

All project proposals must prove to have a positive net benefitProject proposals are also selected on a well-defined scope of work, stakeholder consultation and support and the availability of Standards Australia’s resources.

A detailed explanation of the process is available online. Should you like to submit a project proposal and need guidance along the way, contact Standards Australia’s engagement team at sem@standards.org.au. You can also view current projects via Standard Australia’s Connect platform.

Project kick-off and committee membership

Once a proposal is approved, a Standards Australia Technical Committee will carry out the work. Committees are made up of technical experts and work with a project manager employed by Standards Australia.

If approved, a ‘kick-off’ meeting will be held with committee members to confirm the project’s schedule, scope and objectives, any potential issues, risks and more.

After the kick-off meeting, a project management plan is developed, which defines the project and provides a baseline for managing and tracking the project. It sets out key steps for the project’s development, target dates and the specific activities required of individual committee members.

Committee members interests must align with their sector or national views concerning:

• Net benefit to Australia
• Health, safety and welfare of users and consumers
• The community
• The environment
• Industry best practice
• New and emerging technology
• Fitness for purpose

Committee members must adhere to a ‘Technical Group and Committee Member Code of Conduct’, which acknowledges the responsibility to respect others in meetings, participate actively, declare all relevant interests, behave legally and ethically and more.

To be appointed to a committee, a technical expert must be nominated by a ‘Nominating Organisation’ to represent the organisation’s views. A Nominating Organisation can be a government agency or major Australia-wide organisations or multinational organisations, or more localised organisations with a specific focus.

To qualify as a Nominating Organisation, the following criteria must be met:

• Have its headquarters based in Australia;
• Have an Australian membership base;
• Represent a constituency and;
• Have publicly available information relating to its Australian membership base, the organisation’s purpose and organisational Charter.

Similar to committee members, Nominating Organisations must adhere to a ‘Code of Conduct’ to support productive participation in standards development by acknowledging the responsibility to several criteria, including maintaining strategic relationships, working for the net benefit of Australia, and more.

There is more detailed information online about how to participate in standards development.

Drafting

Standards are drafted by Technical Committees and can establish Working Groups with the purpose to carry out specific tasks associated with developing standards. The general principle that guides drafting is to define clear and unambiguous provisions to facilitate trade and communication, provide public benefit and achieve national goals.

To achieve this, the standard must:

• Be as complete as necessary within the limits specified by its scope;
• Be consistent, clear and accurate;
• Be written using all available knowledge;
• Take into account current market conditions;
• Provide a framework for future technological development;
• Be comprehensible to qualified persons who have not participated in its preparation; and
• Conform to the Standards Australia Standardisation Guides.

To draft a standard, Committees or Working Groups have regular meetings and they are assisted by their project manager, who provides specialised advice on standardisation practice and terminology.  The project manager is also responsible for advising on style and formatting of the standard and arranging its editing and publishing.

Public Comment

Once a draft standard is finished, it can progress to the ‘public comment’ stage, wherein the broader public has an opportunity, for nine weeks, to review the content and direction of the standard before its completion. When the public commenting stage ends, the committee will consider all comments in detail and, if necessary, further drafting is undertaken.

All draft standards in the public comment stage are available on Connect, an online portal and document management system for all Committee materials, providing real time visibility of projects and documents. Anyone can register to provide commentary on a standards document.

Ballot and publication

In the ‘ballot’ stage, committee members vote either affirmatively or negatively on the document’s final draft. Consensus must be achieved for a standard to move on to the publication stage.

Consensus is met when:

• A minimum of 67% of those eligible to vote have voted affirmatively; and
• A minimum of 80% of votes received are affirmative; and
• No major interest involved with the subject of the standard has collectively maintained a negative vote.

In short, consensus does not require a unanimous affirmative vote. And finally, the standard is ready for publication once the Standards Development and Accreditation Committee approve it.

Once published, all Standards and other documents developed by Standards Australia become available for purchase from the Standards Australia Store and via our distributors Techstreet and SAI Global.

Standards Australia is continually looking to providing better access to Australian Standards. Learn more through our Distribution and Licensing Policy Framework.