Standards and the Law
Standards Australia is not part of government, we do not make laws or regulations.
Australian Standards are not legal documents but many, because of their rigour, are called up into legislation by government and become mandatory.
This is a decision made by elected governments, not Standards Australia.
Standards are also often incorporated into legal contracts.
Standards and Regulation
Standards are voluntary consensus documents that are developed by agreement and their application is by choice unless their use is mandated by government or called up in a contract.
Standards are one tool in a regulatory spectrum that may be applied by governments to provide a solution to a problem.
Depending on the issue, the optimal solution might be 'no action', or a non-regulatory solution like a publicity campaign, or self-regulation by means of a voluntary industry code or standard, or quasi-regulation such as a standard endorsed by government, or co-regulation such as a standard cross-referenced in a general or high-level regulation, or legislation.
Figure 1 illustrates the regulatory spectrum, identifying key 'Choice Criteria' to guide selection of the appropriate regulatory tool. The basic principle is that risk assessment should be applied to an issue to identify the most appropriate solution.
The more risk attached to the behaviour or issue, the more government involvement is likely. In principle, progress to the right of the spectrum should be in response to increased risk to justify the increased cost and impact upon society. Standards are not always the most appropriate tool.