New Legislation Overhaul For Certifiers

From 1 July 2020 the new Building and Development Certifiers Act 2018 (Certifiers Act) and the corresponding Building and Development Certifiers Regulation 2020 (Certifiers Regulation) will both take effect.

These statutory reforms, which replace the former Building Professionals Act 2005 and Building Professionals Regulation 2007, introduce even further changes to the building certification industry.

With the commencement of the new Certifiers Act, the Building Professionals Board will be abolished and the shift to move the regulation of building certifiers under the wing of the Fair Trading (a move that has been underway for some time) will be complete.

Certifiers will no longer be accredited, but rather as registered certifiers they will be subject to new conflict of interest provisions which effectively prohibit a certifier from providing professional services with respect to design and compliance with the Building Code of Australia, as well as acting as the principal certifier for the same development. This means that the work available to a certifier in a project is effectively halved which could have significant commercial ramifications for the industry.

This move will ensure certifiers are not involved within the design process, which will hopefully reduce the number of issues we see in the building industry where the certifier has been the BCA consultant or access consultant reviewing the CC plans as well as the Principal Certifiers (no longer called private certifiers).