Reducing red tape by improving clarity and usefulness of regulation and guidance materials 6 November 2015 Audience Regulators and policy-owners are encouraged to apply the better practice suggestions in this guidance when developing and revising policy, internal regulation and guidance for use by, and applicable to, Commonwealth entities and their officials (refer to the glossary for definitions of these terms). Context and purpose On 6 November 2015 the Secretary of Finance, Jane Halton AO PSM, released the Independent Review of Whole-of-Government Internal Regulation, also known as the Belcher Review. The Secretaries Board endorsed the Belcher Review on 7 October 2015, noting that some recommendations are for government to consider. The Belcher Review recommended that develop, in consultation with key regulators, a “Finance short guide to promote clarity and consistency in language used in regulatory and guidance documents...”. This guidance aims to promote clarity and consistency in the language used in internal regulation and guidance, as well as offering better practice suggestions to streamline materials and improve their usefulness. Language: guidance: Develop internal regulation or guidance material that is concise, clear and in plain language where possible so that it is user-friendly and easy to understand. Mandatory requirements would best be articulated through the consistent use of language such as and ‘must’, ‘require/required to’. Non-mandatory guidance would best use encouraged or terms like ‘may’, ‘could’, ‘are to’ ‘consider’. The is best to be avoided, as, even when used in the it word ‘should’ term ‘should consider’, has been interpreted to imply mandatory requirements, particularly by smaller entities with limited capacity to devote resources to compliance activities. This has occurred even where the use of the term has been defined in the document as meaning good practice and not mandatory.
Reducing red tape by improving clarity and usefulness of regulation and guidance materials 6 November 2015 Audience Regulators and policy-owners are encouraged to apply the better practice suggestions in this guidance when developing and revising policy, internal regulation and guidance for use by, and applicable to, Commonwealth entities and their officials (refer to the glossary for definitions of these terms). Context and purpose On 6 November 2015 the Secretary of Finance, Jane Halton AO PSM, released the Independent Review of Whole-of-Government Internal Regulation, also known as the Belcher Review. The Secretaries Board endorsed the Belcher Review on 7 October 2015, noting that some recommendations are for government to consider. The Belcher Review recommended that “Finance develop, in consultation with key regulators, a short guide to promote clarity and consistency in language used in regulatory and guidance documents...”. This guidance aims to promote clarity and consistency in the language used in internal regulation and guidance, as well as offering better practice suggestions to streamline materials and improve their usefulness. Language: guidance: Develop internal regulation or guidance material that is concise, clear and in plain language where possible so that it is user-friendly and easy to understand. Mandatory requirements would best be articulated through the consistent use of language such as ‘must’, and ‘require/required to’. Non-mandatory guidance would best use terms like ‘may’, ‘could’, ‘are encouraged to’ or ‘consider’. The word ‘should’ is best to be avoided, as, even when used in the term ‘should consider’, it has been interpreted to imply mandatory requirements, particularly by smaller entities with limited capacity to devote resources to compliance activities. This has occurred even where the use of the term has been defined in the document as meaning good practice and not mandatory.
guide-to-improving-guidance-and-policy-documents.docx