This guide replaces the October 2007 Council of Australian Governments (COAG) document titled Best Practice Regulation: a guide for Ministerial Councils and Standard-Setting Bodies. It implements the National Cabinet’s agreement to the recommendations of the October 2020 Review of COAG Councils and Ministerial Forums: Report to National Cabinet, (the Conran Review), in relation to the application of regulatory impact analysis (RIA) to regulatory decisions taken by intergovernmental decision-making bodies.

In prescribing the RIA requirements for decision-making bodies, this guide outlines:

• principles for best practice regulation;
• guidance for undertaking RIA; and
• steps for policy officers to take in preparing a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS)