Members are advised that the NSW Building and Construction SOP Regulation and CPD Guidelines for Adjudicators commenced on 1 September 2020.
The Guidelines are available on the NSW Fair Trading website and the 2020 Regulation is available on the NSW Legislation website.
The 2020 Regulation will provide the legislative support and administrative detail for the operation of the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (the Act). Key reforms introduced by the 2020 Regulation include:
- removing the annual reporting requirements for trust accounts to NSW Fair Trading,
- introducing an obligation to provide trust account records to subcontractors if their money is held in trust,
- introducing qualifications and eligibility requirements for adjudicators, and
- removing owner occupier construction contracts as a prescribed class of construction contract to which the Act does not apply, but ensuring they remain exempt for the purposes of prompt payment provisions in the Act, consistent with the existing treatment of contracts for that type of work.
The project value threshold for retention money trust account requirements will not be reduced from $20 million to $10 million. The existing requirements will continue.
The Guidelines set out the continuing professional development (CPD) required to be completed by adjudicators. In accordance with clause 19(3) of the 2020 Regulation, the requirement to have completed CPD specified by the Guidelines commences on 1 September 2021.