Australia to streamline veterinary medicine regulation

Australia is cutting the red tape and streamlining the regulation of agricultural and veterinary chemicals and medicines, Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said.

The legislation is another step in the government's plans to improve the system to benefit farmers, the environment and industry and comes after years of lobbying by suppliers and manufacturers.

The legislation will allow the industry regulator, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority, to better focus on protecting human health and the environment, Burke said in a statement.

In particular, it simplifies a process for applicants making minor non-technical variations to chemical approvals or registrations, such as changing the size of packaging, and cuts red tape to allow companies to make minor changes to labels, such as changing a logo, without having to go through a full assessment process, he said.

This will ease pressure on the authority and allow the experts to focus on risk assessments relating to the safe and effective use of chemicals and allow the authority to better streamline and assess permit applications without compromising the integrity of the commercial parties involved, he said.

The changes are long overdue and bring regulation of agricultural and veterinary chemicals into this century, the minister said. The regulator is an Australian government statutory authority established in 1993 to centralize the registration of all agricultural and veterinary chemicals in Australia. Before any such product can be legally supplied, sold, or used in Australia it must be registered with the authority.