On  11 October 2012 the House of Representatives referred the Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Bill 2012 for inquiry and report.

The Bill provides a framework of standard regulatory powers for exercise by agencies across the Commonwealth. Key features of the Bill include monitoring and investigation powers, and enforcement provisions through use of civil penalty, infringement notices, enforceable undertakings and injunctions. The monitoring and investigation powers are based on those found in existing in Commonwealth legislation.

The Bill allows for the progressive roll-out of the legislation. New Acts or Regulations that require investigation or enforcement powers of the kind available under the Bill would be drafted to trigger the relevant provisions. Where the powers are considered appropriate for current legislation, amendment would be required to remove existing regulatory powers and incorporate the Regulatory Power Bill's provisions.

The closing date for submissions is 7 November 2012  and the reporting date is 26 November 2012.

The Committee is seeking written submissions from interested individuals and organisations preferably in electronic form submitted online or sent by email to le.committee@aph.gov.au as an attached Adobe PDF or MS Word format document. The email must include full postal address and contact details.

Alternatively, written submissions may be sent to:

Committee Secretary
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia

Notes to help you prepare your submission are available from the website at http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/wit_sub/index.htm. Alternatively, the Committee Secretariat will be able to help you with your inquiries and can be contacted on telephone +61 2 6277 3419 or facsimile +61 2 6277 5809 or by email to le.committee@aph.gov.au.

Inquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to Parliament House TTY number 02 6277 7799. Adobe also provides tools at http://access.adobe.com/ for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. If you require any special arrangements to enable you to participate in the Committee's inquiry, please contact the Committee Secretariat.

Once the Committee accepts your submission, it becomes a confidential Committee document and is protected by Parliamentary Privilege. You must not release your submission without the Committee's permission. If you do, it will not be protected by Parliamentary Privilege. At some stage during the inquiry, the Committee normally makes submissions public and places them on its website. Please indicate if you want your submission to be kept confidential.