RMGs are guidance documents. The purpose of an RMG is to support PGPA Act entities and companies in meeting the requirements of the PGPA framework. As guides, RMGs explain the legislation and policy requirements in plain English. RMGs support accountable authorities and officials to apply the intent of the framework. It is an official’s responsibility to ensure that Finance guidance is monitored regularly for updates, including changes in policy/requirements.
RMG-128 has been updated. The updates include:
- improving structure and readability of guidance, including simplifying language, to make it easier for entities developing Statements of Expectations (SOE) and Statements of Intent (SOI) to understand the guidance
- adding statutory office holders as another example of a regulator
- adding information about ministers choosing to issue an addendum to their SOEs and that doing so would trigger issuing a new SOI
- adding Machinery of Government changes as a factor that would trigger issuing a new SOE, and
- adding a reference to the Information Publication Scheme (IPS) as another way for regulators to manage publishing SOEs and SOIs on their websites.
For any questions, please contact APS Regulatory Reform.
Audience
This guide assists Commonwealth entities that perform regulatory functions. These include non-corporate and corporate Commonwealth entities who may be standalone regulators, or Commonwealth officials located within departments or other entities, including statutory office holders.
Regulators are expected to apply the Regulatory Policy, Practice and Performance Framework (RPPPF) and the government’s productivity policy objective and should refer to this guide to support doing this.
While entities with regulatory functions that only involve regulating Commonwealth entities or employees are not expected to have Statements of Expectations (SOE) and Statements of Intent (SOI), they may find this guide helpful for performance reporting.
This guide may also be helpful for Commonwealth entities without regulatory functions whose Minister also issues an SOE to guide their performance or strategic priorities, adapted on a case-by-case basis.
Key points
This guide supports the RPPPF and describes:
- regulatory functions
- the 3 principles of best practice
- what SOEs and SOIs are and considerations when preparing them
- how to apply the best practice principles and reporting on regulator performance.
Statements that have been published by regulators can be accessed through the Australian Government Regulator Stocktake.
What is a regulatory function?
Regulatory functions may include administering (for example, providing approvals, making operational rules about, handling complaints on), monitoring, promoting compliance with and enforcing regulation.
Regulatory functions are carried out under different governance arrangements and structures. They may be located within Commonwealth entities who may also be responsible for other, non-regulatory functions.
This guide will use the term regulator to refer to all types of Commonwealth entities with regulatory functions. The term is not intended to refer to entities who:
- are only responsible for the setting of policy, standards, the approval of grants or are tribunals.
- are only responsible for law enforcement activities such as policing or prosecution services, for example the Australian Federal Police, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Office of the Special Investigator.
Resources
Related resources including Resource Management Guides are located in the right-hand menu.
