VIC starts Small Business Regulation Review

On 28 July 2016, the Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade, the Hon Philip Dalidakis, launched the Small Business Retail Regulation Review in Victoria, a small subset of a bigger three part review of Small Business Regulation overall.

Background to the Small Business Review

Over the next two years, the Victorian Government, according to the Issues Paper, will examine how regulation is impacting the state’s small business community, first focusing on Victoria’s retail sector. The criteria for selecting the sector for the reviews are the following:

1. Significant number of small businesses. The sector has a significant number and proportion of small businesses;
2. Significant burden of regulation. The sector is regulated by multiple regulators at the local, State and/or Commonwealth levels and has at least one key category of sector-specific regulation;
3. Victorian Government has a reasonable degree of control. The sector has at least one key interface with a Victorian State Government or Local Government regulator and is not wholly regulated by the Commonwealth;
4. Fits in with other regulatory reviews. There are no recent, current, or upcoming regulatory reviews which would preclude the need for a new Victorian review of small business regulation in the sector;
5. Reform achievable and impactful. Initial evidence suggests the sector holds significant potential for achievable and impactful regulation reform in terms of unlocking economic activity and creating jobs; and
6. Industry appetite for reform. Initial evidence suggests industry stakeholders are generally in favour of working with the Victorian Government to reform regulation in the sector. 

Terms of Reference for the Small Business Retail Regulation Review

According to the Terms of Reference, findings and recommendations of each of the reviews will be informed by the following principles and objectives of regulation:

• Government imposes regulation only where there is a clearly defined need;
• Regulation creates the greatest net benefit to society by striking a balance between:
• The most effective tool to address the problem;
• The most efficient tool to address the problem; and
• Proportionality to the problem;
• Regulation is coordinated between policy-makers, regulators and regulated parties;
• Regulators are assigned clear accountability; and
• Government is adaptive in continually improving regulation and responding to emerging issues in a timely manner.

Taking the above principles into account, the reviews will:

• identify significant regulatory impacts on small businesses in targeted sectors where reform has significant potential to improve productivity, unlock new economic activity and create jobs;
• work through three to four sectors over two years, focusing on sectors with a large number and high proportion of employing small businesses;
• use sector reviews as an opportunity to build a comprehensive understanding of the impact of regulation on small businesses, particularly of how regulation affects business investment, expansion and other decision-making;
• recommend opportunities to remove excessive regulation or improve the design and administration of legislation and regulation to make it more proportionate, risk-based and cost effective;
• recommend opportunities to remove overlaps where there are multiple regulatory regimes impacting on similar small businesses;
• recommend areas of regulatory activity where best practice regulator actions and enforcement approaches should be applied to minimise the impact on small businesses;
• identify “quick win” reforms that could be implemented as a matter of priority, as well as longer term reforms; and
• complement the work of the Red Tape Commissioner.

Focus of the Current Review and Submission Dates

The current review is focused on five separate areas which could cause issues for retail businesses. These include:

• Starting a business;
• Running a business;
• Retail leasing;
• Purchasing/selling a business; and
• Details about businesses working in the area.

In particular, the Victorian Government is interested in what effect regulations or requirements in the above areas have on participants in the retail sector.

Submissions for the Small Business Retail Regulation Review close on 30 September 2016.

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VIC Small Business Regulation Review Website including Issues Paper, Terms of Reference and Media Releases