Draft SOPA WA Regulations out for comment

A consultation draft of Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Regulations has been released by the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. Getting these Regulations gazetted is part of the process for the full promulgation of the Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Act.?The regulations can be reviewed by clicking on the link above.

Of course, the regulations might be amended prior to gazettal but there are two matters addressed by regulations that I want to note. The first is the proposal to limit the length of submissions for claims below $50,000.00 to 10 pages. I hope this survives review as it is a sensible idea for small claims. I also think that the idea of more tightly regulating to the content of applications and responses is a good one generally both in terms of managing the costs of adjudications but also ensuring that adjudicators are not overwhelmed by information and are not forced to request more time to make determinations. Other areas where restrictions might be considered include the use of expert reports and statutory declarations.

A second issue dealt with in the regulations is the vexed issue of the delivery of documents via a cloud or document sharing platform. This another welcome development especially where adjudications might be allocated to interstate adjudicators. My experience is that serving voluminous responses on interstate adjudicators (who will not accept service by cloud or share-folders) is difficult and has meant that, as a matter of practicality because of concerns over service, respondents often have as little as 8.5 days to respond to adjudication applications where an interstate adjudicator is appointed.

Finally, I note that the Department is accepting comments on the draft regulations until 21 January 2022.