Joint Australian/ New Zealand standards

Joint Australian/New Zealand standards are developed by a joint standards development committee, comprising committee members that represent both New Zealand and Australian stakeholders.

Standards New Zealand and Standards Australia jointly encourage the adoption of international standards first and the development of joint standards where this is not possible.

The day-to-day operation of joint committees is managed by Standards Australia or Standards New Zealand, according to which country holds secretariat responsibilities for the committee. Secretariats are allocated on the basis of demonstrable interest, expertise, and financial resources.

How joint projects are developed

New Zealand secretariat

There are currently three active New Zealand secretariat committees.

1. EL-002 is a mirror committee for a number of IEC international committees. Its primary role is to review and comment on the international documents during the standards development stage. When the international standards are published they are reviewed for usability and national variations and, if required, these are added to the final document.

The committee uses the ‘combined procedure’ (concurrent public comment and postal ballot) process and, once approved, the international standards are adopted and published as AS/NZS versions.

2. QR-012 is a committee responsible for three joint Australian/New Zealand standards:

• AS/NZS 4417.1 Regulatory compliance mark for electrical and electronic equipment – Part 1: Use of the mark
• AS/NZS 4417.2 Regulatory compliance mark for electrical and electronic equipment – Part 2: Specific requirements for particular regulatory applications
• AS/NZS 3820 Essential safety requirements for electrical equipment. 

3. Joint Australian/New Zealand committee EL-036 is currently revising AS/NZS 3760 In-service safety inspection and testing of electrical equipment.

Australian secretariat

The day-to-day management of a number of committees is facilitated by Standards Australia. Consult the Standards Australia website for  more information.

Standards Australia(external link)

 

Commissioning standards

Standards New Zealand does not receive direct government funding and operates on a cost recovery basis. As a result, it is necessary for Standards New Zealand to recover project fees for New Zealand’s participation in an Australian-secretariat joint standard. This is usually from a third party; either a regulator or an industry body that uses the joint standard, or through other means such as the revenue from the sale of the resulting standard, if this is feasible.

Joining a joint AS/NZS committee

Find out more by emailing joints@standards.govt.nz