About the Proposal for Change process

While the NCC is updated in 3-year cycles through a public consultation process, amendments to any volume of the code can be suggested at any stage through the Proposal for Change process.

Technical proposals do not include those which address matters of public policy or for which direction from government is required before a change to the NCC can be considered.

Proposal

If you would like to propose a change, you will need to to provide justification to support your proposal. This justification should be proportionate to the size of the proposed change or its potential impacts.
 

Justification should include:

  • a description of the proposal
  • an explanation of the problem it is designed to resolve
  • evidence of the existence of the problem
  • how the proposal is expected to solve the problem
  • what alternatives to regulation have been considered, and why they are not preferred
  • who will be affected and how they will be affected, and
  • any consultation that has taken place.

Consideration

Submitted proposals are reviewed and considered for tabling at a meeting of the relevant building or plumbing technical committee. If the proposal is considered to have merit, the committees may recommend that changes be included in the public comment draft of the relevant volume.

In order to make the most effective use of resources, reduce unnecessary churn and focus on priorities, proposals that address matters of public policy, repeat previous submissions, involve matters outside the purview of the NCC or the purpose of which would make no material change to a provision, are discouraged.

Information submitted will not be released unless required by law, but may be made available to the ABCB and its Committees if required. Information collected may be subject to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.

Submission

PFC submissions are welcome from anyone at anytime.

If you would like to submit a PFC, please read the detailed Guideline to Preparing a PFC to provide assistance in your preparation.

A PFC must be developed using the prescribed PFC Template, in Microsoft Word format only. Where multiple changes are proposed, please submit a separate PFC for each proposed change.

The completed PFC may be submitted via ncc@abcb.gov.au.

NCC 2022

Please note that submissions for the NCC 2022 public comment draft are no longer accepted.

NCC 2025

Submissions for the NCC 2025 public comment draft will need to be made by 1 August 2023. Submissions made are not guaranteed consideration for possible inclusion in the NCC 2025 public comment draft. To give the best opportunity for your PFC for possible inclusion in NCC 2025 public comment draft, please provide submissions as early as possible to give the committees sufficient time for consideration. Submissions received after 1 August 2023 will not be considered for the NCC 2025 public comment draft.