Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Legislation Amendment (Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority Board and Other Improvements) Bill 2019 - Commentary on Ministerial Responses [2019] AUSStaCSBSD 169 (5 December 2019)

• Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Legislation Amendment (Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority Board and Other Improvements) Bill 2019
• Computerised decision-making1

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Chapter 2

Commentary on ministerial responses

2.1 This chapter considers the responses of ministers to matters previously raised by the committee.

Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Legislation Amendment (Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority Board and Other Improvements) Bill 2019

Purpose	This bill seeks to amend various Acts relating to agricultural and veterinary chemicals to: • provide the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) and industry with flexibility to deal with certain types of new information provided when the APVMA is considering an application; • enable the use of new regulatory processes for chemicals of low regulatory concern; • provide for extensions to limitation periods and protection periods as an incentive for chemical companies to register certain new uses of chemical products; • simplify reporting requirements for annual returns; • support computerised decision-making by the APVMA; • provide for APVMA to manage errors in an application at the preliminary assessment stage; • enable APVMA to grant part of a variation application under section 27 of the Schedule to the Agricultural and Veterinary Code Act 1994 (Agvet Code); • enable a person to apply to vary an approval or registration that is suspended; • establish civil pecuniary penalties for contraventions of provisions in the Agvet Code and the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (Administration) Act 1992 (Administration Act); • provide APVMA with more comprehensive grounds for suspending or cancelling approvals or registrations; • enable the use of new, simpler processes for assessments based on risk; • simplify the APVMA’s corporate reporting requirements; • amend the mechanism for dealing with minor variations in the constituents in a product; • clarify what information must be included on a label; • correct anomalies in the regulation-making powers for the labelling criteria; • amend the notification requirements in section 8E of the Agvet Code and amend section 7A of the Administration Act to clarify the authority to make an APVMA legislative instrument for residues of chemical products in protected commodities; • amend the definition of expiry date in the Agvet Code; and • establish a governance Board for the APVMA and cease the existing APVMA Advisory Board
Portfolio	Agriculture
Introduced	House of Representatives on 18 September 2019
Bill status	Before House of Representatives

Computerised decision-making^[1]

2.2 In Scrutiny Digest 8 of 2019 the committee requested the minister's further advice as to whether the minister proposes to bring forward amendments to the bill to:

• limit the types of decisions that can be made by computers; and/or

• provide that the APVMA must, before determining that a type of decision can be made by computers, be satisfied by reference to general principles articulated in the legislation that it is appropriate for the type of decision to be made by a computer rather than a person.^[2]

Minister's response^[3]

2.3 The minister advised:

The Liberal and Nationals Government agrees to incorporate the information in the explanatory material and intends to amend the Bill to prescribe additional safeguards to help ensure that decisions made by computers will be consistent with relevant laws.

Committee comment

2.4 The committee thanks the minister for this response. The committee notes the minister's advice that the key information will be incorporated into the explanatory memorandum and that the government intends to amend the bill to prescribe additional safeguards to help ensure that decisions made by computers will be consistent with relevant laws.

2.5 The committee welcomes the minister's advice that the government intends to amend the bill to prescribe additional safeguards to ensure that decisions made by computers will be consistent with relevant laws.

2.6 In light of the minister's undertaking to amend the bill, the committee makes no further comment on this matter.

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[1] Schedule 1, item 36, proposed section 5F. The committee draws senators’ attention to this provision pursuant to Senate Standing Orders 24(1)(a)(ii) and (iii).

[2] Senate Scrutiny of Bills Committee, Scrutiny Digest 8 of 2019, pp. 37–42.

[3] The minister responded to the committee's comments in a letter dated 28 November 2019. A copy of the letter is available on the committee's website: see correspondence relating to Scrutiny Digest 10 of 2019 available at: www.aph.gov.au/senate_scrutiny_digest