The Australian marketplace is highly regulated with mandatory product compliance programs imposed at federal, state and local levels. Product compliance is administered and policed by several government regulators who draft and implement legislation that specifies the regulations. For the most part the regulations are based on standards and usually these are derived from those issued by international standards organisations such as the IEC. Local variations are incorporated into the original standard, that is reissued as an Australian standard with the prefix of AS.

Suppliers of products to the Australian market must inform themselves of the technical and administrative requirements they must implement before they offer their products for sale. Penalties for not doing so can be costly. Apart from having to recall all products substantial fines may have to be paid in addition to the risk of litigation from consumers.

Use European Union CE reports to achieve compliance in Australia

Using existing CE reports may be the most efficient and cost effective way of demonstrating compliance with Australian conformity regulations. CE reports are usually made to the same international standards that our Australian standards are based on. The difference may be addressed by technical examination and where required additional supplementary testing.

For example some products require that a certificate of conformity or certificate of approval for electrical safety be issued against them before they can be legally placed on the market. In some cases a product will have already been assessed against the EU's CE requirements which include standards derived from the same source as our Australian standards. While there may be important differences between the Australian and EU standards these may be addressed by a difference report. The difference report supplements and/or modifies the EU test report so that when it is submitted for approval together with the EU report the product will meet all the applicable Australian requirements. Once the certificate of conformity is issued the product can be labelled with the appropriate compliance mark and sold.

In the case of Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) requirements some of the EU standards are accepted in Australia without the need for additional technical assessment or testing. If this is the case the supplier simply applies for use of the applicable compliance mark, prepares a compliance folder, signs a Declaration of Conformity and places the product on the market.

Other EU reports may be used as the basis on which Australian product compliance is achieved. These include reports for some Level 1 radio transmitters (LIPDs), Energy Efficiency or MEPS requirements and Medical Devices.