Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health
The Review of Radiation Safety Fees and Regulations sets out proposals to amend the Radiation Safety Regulations 2016 (the Regulations), including significant increases to application fees for radiation safety authorisations, minor amendments to existing exemptions and setting out the fees payable in a simple format.
This consultation is designed to provide sufficient information and time for people who are affected by the Regulations to make an informed contribution to proposals to amend the Regulations.
The proposed amendments are set out in the consultation document.
A significant increase is proposed to the application fees payable for the authorisations (licences and consents) required by the Radiation Safety Act 2016 (the Act). The Ministry of Health has reviewed the current fees and found that they significantly under-recover the costs of administering the Act. The consultation document provides a report on the fees review, including an outline of the costs. The proposed new fees aim to achieve full-cost recovery. An independent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers New Zealand on the method for calculating the new fees is also provided to assist submitters.
Minor amendments are proposed to a number of existing exemptions set out in the Regulations. The most significant proposal would require some currently exempt, very low-risk, irradiating apparatus to be registered with the Ministry of Health (and for their owners to keep maintenance and other records). This proposal aims to improve safety.
No amendments are proposed to the overall fees structure or the way that fees are determined. However, there are minor amendments proposed to compliance monitoring categories to improve the grading of the fees structure. This proposal aims to improve the proportionality of fees.
The consultation document also proposes to set out the fees payable (where possible) in table format to make the Regulations easier to use.
