We are working together with state and territory governments to make regulations clearer for the hydrogen industry. This work is part of the National Hydrogen Regulatory Review. It aims to help grow the hydrogen industry by making regulations more consistent and easier to understand.
The first stage of the review was completed in late 2022. It found many regulatory barriers which affect hydrogen projects including:
- inconsistent obligations
- inappropriately adapted obligations
- unclear regulatory obligations.
Stakeholders confirmed these barriers in a series of consultations in November 2022.
Priority actions
Together with state and territory governments, and energy ministers, we have committed to priority action items to address the gaps and barriers found in the review. Priority actions include:
- development and delivery of 5 National Hydrogen Codes of Best Practice
- prioritised transport regulatory reforms
- development of standardisation of best practice (accelerated standards development).
This will help develop an efficient, internationally competitive and safe regulatory framework.
National codes of best practice
Along with the states and territories, we have committed to delivering 5 National Hydrogen Codes of Best Practice:
- National Code of Best Practice Hydrogen Production
- National Code of Best Practice Ammonia Production
- National Code of Best Practice Hydrogen Refuelling
- National Code of Best Practice Hydrogen Appliances
- National Code of Best Practice Ammonia Appliances.
The Codes are an adaptive approach to regulatory reform, and will provide improved:
- safety
- national consistency
- transparent regulatory pathways
- efficient regulatory approvals.
The codes will deliver improved regulatory outcomes by identifying:
- regulatory obligations associated with the lifecycle activities of relevant hydrogen or ammonia projects in each Australian jurisdiction.
- regulators associated with the lifecycle activities of the relevant hydrogen or ammonia projects
- best practice, as it currently exists in international practice and precedence, technical specifications, case studies and standards.
This will assist industry to:
- understand how activities would demonstrate compliance with regulatory obligations
- provide confidence in the timing and cost of compliance.
They will also help regulators:
- determine what would be acceptable for granting approvals or enforcing compliance with regulations
- ensure consistency of those approvals.
Find out more
Co-design workshops began in October 2023 and end in November 2023. Read more about the Review of Hydrogen Regulation: Hydrogen Industry Consultation.
Prioritised transport regulatory reforms
The review findings will support collaboration and engagement across governments. They will help develop efficient regulatory pathways for:
- hydrogen vessels
- hydrogen vehicles
- hydrogen and ammonia as a transport cargo.
This work may also include streamlined exemption processes, pending regulatory reform.
It will focus on engagement across energy and transport portfolios and jurisdictions. This will address transport-related regulatory gaps and barriers identified through the review.
Development of standardisation of best practice (accelerated standards development)
The review is accelerating the identification and adoption of a broad array of:
- international codes
- international standards
- international technical specifications.
These will be for use in the 5 National Hydrogen Codes of Best Practice and prioritised transport regulatory reforms.
Where relevant and appropriate, best practice may be identified from:
- laws and regulations from other jurisdictions
- Internationally publicly funded research, which is yet to be captured in regulation or standards
- work by a broad range of industry standards bodies
- case studies
- examples of industry proponent developed ‘safety cases’ or ‘precedential novel regulatory approvals’.
Ongoing work of the national regulatory review
The priority projects are in addition to the ongoing work of the review working group. Ongoing work includes:
- Coordinating legislative reforms in each jurisdiction across all portfolios, to achieve nationally consistent regulation of the hydrogen industry
- Maintaining up to date regulatory maps of the hydrogen industry and its supply chain, across all jurisdictions.
We have published the lists of legislation, and relevant regulators for 6 hypothetical hydrogen projects. It is anticipated that states and territories will publish their own legislation lists.