About > Co-regulation

Co-regulation is a form of regulation that establishes a set of principles for sharing or assigning responsibilities between government and industry (in our case) for the management of rail safety risks.

Codification of these principles in the rail industry at the national level is through the NML. A rail safety regulator administers this legislation in each jurisdiction. The relationship for co-regulation is therefore not between the regulator and industry but is a complex interaction between governments and industry covering the stages of policy development, specification of legislation, through to administration and enforcement. The regulator's primary relationship is with individual rail operators and others who have responsibilities under the rail safety legislation. At a practical level, the exact nature of the co-regulation relationship between regulator and regulatee changes depending on the nature of the legislative obligation (e.g. accreditation, safety duties, risk management obligations etc.)