Allens Partner and Head of Innovation Anna Collyer will lead the Australian Government's review into the legislation that regulates the energy efficiency of appliances and equipment.
Ms Collyer will lead a statutory review into the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards Act 2012 (GEMS Act), which sets minimum energy performance standards and energy rating label requirements.
Designed to ensure the Act remains appropriate and effective, the review will consider changing appliance and equipment use, emerging technologies, the increasing connectedness of appliances and international best practice regulation.
'We've seen significant changes to energy consumption patterns in recent years as a result of huge leaps in technologies like home energy generation, energy storage and smart appliances,' Ms Collyer said.
'While the GEMS Act already has a built-in degree of flexibility, we will be considering whether it is able to deliver effective regulation for further categories of products where that will deliver significant savings in energy and greenhouse emissions.
'The review will put us at the forefront of international best practice in energy efficiency regulation, and I'm honoured to be leading that process.'
The review will consider enhancements to the Act such as improving the ability of the legislation to respond to changing dynamics and ensuring the legislation can provide for adequate compliance arrangements for new products.
It will include consultation with a range of stakeholders including state, territory and New Zealand governments, industry associations and consumer groups.
From 2015 to 2020, existing and proposed GEMS regulations are estimated to reduce Australia's emissions by at least 27 mega tonnes – the equivalent of taking over eight million cars off the road for a year.
The review will commence immediately and deliver a final report during 2018.
Ends
Notes for editors.
Allens is a commercial law firm working throughout Australia and Asia. Through its integrated alliance with Linklaters it provides clients access to 40 offices in 28 countries around the world.