Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances (Industrial Hemp) Regulations 2018

The instrument is short and built on three core concepts: fee units, prescribed fees for statutory authorisations, and inspector time‑based charging. Each concept is anchored to the principal Act and to the Monetary Units Act 2004 as explained in the Explanatory details.

Fee unit mechanism: Fees are expressed as numbers of fee units rather than direct dollar amounts (reg 5 and reg 6). The Explanatory details state the calculation method: multiply the number of fee units by the monetary value of a fee unit in the relevant financial year in accordance with s 7 of the Monetary Units Act 2004. For the 2018-19 financial year the value is $14.45 and the calculated amount may be rounded to the nearest 10 cents. The Treasurer sets subsequent fee unit values under s 5 of the Monetary Units Act and must publish the value in the Government Gazette and a Victorian newspaper before 1 June in the preceding financial year (Endnotes, Explanatory details). The Regulations therefore rely on that separate statutory system to convert fee units into currency.

Prescribed fees for statutory authorities: The instrument prescribes specific numbers of fee units to satisfy references in provisions of the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981. Regulation 5 performs this function by specifying, for the purposes of those provisions in the principal Act, that the application fee is 30 fee units (reg 5(1)) and the renewal fee is 9.5 fee units (reg 5(2)). The text uses the phrase "for the purposes of" the cited sections, which is the conventional mechanism by which subordinate legislation fixes a figure that the principal Act requires be prescribed.

Inspector time‑billing: Regulation 6 establishes a per‑time charging model for services provided by inspectors. The billing unit is each quarter of an hour or part thereof, charged at 3.5 fee units (reg 6(1)). The regulation lists the discrete services subject to charging, covering sampling and testing, supervision of harvesting/disposal/destruction, general inspections/surveillance, and inspections or assessments for proposed site additions to current authorities (including online assessments) (reg 6(1)(a)-(d)). The regulation expressly includes travel time between the service location and the inspector’s principal work location in the calculation (reg 6(2)). It also creates a per‑service, per‑day cap of 56 fee units (reg 6(3)). The instrument further frames inspectors’ role as both authorised and required to impose these fees (reg 6(1)), which is a different drafting choice to authorising discretion.

Revocation and temporal scope: Reg 4 revokes the 2008 Regulations. The Endnotes identify the date of making (17 July 2018), the commencement date (24 August 2018) and the sunset provision under the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 (sunset 10 years after making). The instrument therefore replaces the earlier subordinate instrument and is intended to operate for a limited statutory period unless amended or remade.

Terminology: The Regulations repeatedly use "fee units", "authority to cultivate and process low‑THC cannabis", "inspectors" and "services" as defined in context by the principal Act and by the Monetary Units Act. The Regulations do not attempt to define "low‑THC" or other technical terms in isolation; they function in the statutory architecture where the principal Act sets substantive licensing and regulatory definitions.

The Regulations affect a narrow set of actors situated in the industrial hemp regulatory ecosystem established by the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981. From the text, the directly affected parties are:

• Applicants for an authority to cultivate and process low‑THC cannabis under the principal Act. Regulation 5(1) prescribes the application fee: 30 fee units. Anyone preparing to apply under s 62(2)(b) of the principal Act must budget for that prescribed sum.

• Holders of, and applicants for renewal of, an authority to cultivate and process low‑THC cannabis. Regulation 5(2) prescribes the renewal fee at 9.5 fee units for the purposes of s 67(1)(b) of the principal Act. Renewal applicants must comply with that financial requirement.

• Persons subject to inspections, sampling, testing, supervision or surveillance by inspectors acting under the principal Act. Regulation 6(1) requires inspectors to impose fees at the rate of 3.5 fee units per quarter hour (or part thereof) for specified services (reg 6(1)(a)-(d)). The listed services are directly linked to the activities of regulated businesses that cultivate, harvest, dispose of or otherwise handle cannabis plants, crops or products.

• Operators seeking to add a premises or site to an existing authority. Regulation 6(1)(d) specifically authorises charges for inspections or assessments, including online assessments, of premises or sites proposed to be added to a current authority. That captures businesses expanding operations or seeking to modify an existing authorisation.

• Parties indirectly affected include persons who must host or commission sampling/testing or supervised disposal or destruction operations. Because travel time is included by reg 6(2), geographically remote operators will pay for inspectors’ travel time as part of the chargeable time, making location an economically relevant variable for regulated entities.

• Inspectors and the administering authority. The text frames inspectors as both authorised and required to impose the fees for the specified services (reg 6(1)). That changes practical expectations for officers, who must apply the charging rules and include travel time in their time records for charging purposes. The administering agency will be responsible for collecting these fee amounts and for complying with the fee unit conversion and rounding rules set out in the Monetary Units Act framework referenced by the Explanatory details.

• The Treasurer and publishing authorities. The Explanatory details require the Treasurer to fix the fee‑unit value for each financial year and to publish it in the Government Gazette and a Victorian newspaper before 1 June prior to the financial year. Therefore the Treasurer’s scheduled administrative action affects the actual dollar amounts payable.

The Regulations do not expressly extend charges to third parties (for example, researchers or processors not holding an authority) unless those parties are within the purview of the services listed in reg 6(1) and the principal Act’s inspection powers. The text confines charges to the enumerated services and to the application/renewal fees linked to specified sections of the principal Act (reg 5 and reg 6).

Duties created or clarified by the Regulations are concentrated and monetary.

Duties on applicants and authority‑holders

• Pay the prescribed application fee when seeking an authority to cultivate and process low‑THC cannabis: reg 5(1) fixes that fee at 30 fee units "for the purposes of section 62(2)(b) of the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981". The statutory form indicates the principal Act requires a prescribed fee and the Regulations supply the amount.
• Pay the prescribed renewal fee when renewing an authority: reg 5(2) fixes the renewal fee at 9.5 fee units "for the purposes of section 67(1)(b) of the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981". Again, the Regulations operate to satisfy a prescribing function in the principal Act.

Duties on inspectors

• Inspectors are both authorised and required to impose fees and charges for enumerated services: reg 6(1) uses both terms. That drafting imposes an affirmative obligation on inspectors to impose fees at the specified rate; it does not simply permit charging at the inspector’s discretion.
• Charge at a rate of 3.5 fee units for each quarter of an hour or part thereof spent providing the services listed in reg 6(1)(a)-(d).
• Include travelling time between the service location and the inspector’s principal work location when calculating time spent providing the service (reg 6(2)).
• Cap charges at a maximum daily amount of 56 fee units "in respect of each service" (reg 6(3)). The cap applies per service per day, according to the regulation’s text.

Rights and administrative features

• The Regulations do not create express exemptions, waivers, or concessional arrangements in the text. The Explanatory details do not list exemptions. The only mechanism for change apparent in the instrument is the use of fee units, with their annual recalibration by the Treasurer under the Monetary Units Act 2004.
• The Explanatory details provide the calculation and rounding rule: multiply the number of fee units by the value of a fee unit for the relevant financial year under s 7 of the Monetary Units Act and round the result to the nearest 10 cents. This is an administrative right for regulated entities: the fee calculation method is fixed and transparent in the Explanatory details.
• Inspectors gain a statutory mandate to impose fees for time spent on core regulatory activities , supervision of harvesting/destruction, sampling/testing, inspections/surveillance, and premises assessments. The "including online assessments" wording in reg 6(1)(d) clarifies that remote/online assessment activities fall within the charging regime.

Procedural duties implied by the instrument

• While the Regulations do not prescribe invoicing, accounting or collection procedures, the requirement that inspectors include travel time and charge by quarter hour or part thereof suggests an administrative duty to record time to that granularity. The Explanatory details’ reliance on the Monetary Units Act for the fee unit value also imposes a timing dependency; regulated parties must use the fee unit value published by the Treasurer for the relevant financial year.

Limits on duties

• The daily cap in reg 6(3) limits the maximum an inspector may impose in respect of each service in a single day, but it does not cap total fees over multiple days, nor does it limit fees charged by multiple inspectors carrying out different services on the same day. The Regulations do not create further statutory constraints or tiered rates based on scale, urgency or other criteria.

In summary, duties are narrowly monetary and administrative: applicants and holders must pay prescribed fees; inspectors must charge set rates with travel time included and within a daily cap; fee calculation is governed by the Monetary Units Act methodology and the Treasurer’s published fee unit value.

The Regulations do not themselves create criminal offences, specified penalties, or enforcement mechanisms beyond the monetary charging and the authority to impose fees. The instrument’s text is focused on prescribing fees and authorising inspectors to impose them. Specific points drawn from the text and the Endnotes:

• No penalty provisions are included within these Regulations. The statutory text contains no express fines, prosecutions, or specified civil penalties tied to non‑payment of the prescribed fees. Enforcement of non‑payment, or consequences for failing to comply with charging requirements, would therefore depend on the principal Act’s enforcement framework or other administrative procedures of the administering agency; those provisions are not reproduced in this instrument.

• Inspectors are required to impose the fees listed (reg 6(1)). The Regulations therefore create a mandatory charging obligation for inspectors, but they do not prescribe the administrative pathway for enforcement if a regulated person refuses to pay an imposed charge. Similarly, they do not set out recovery mechanisms, debt recovery procedures, or the relationship between unpaid fees and licences/authorities. Those matters likely rest in the principal Act or in the administering authority’s policies, which are not in this instrument.

• The Explanatory details provide the fee conversion and rounding method via the Monetary Units Act 2004. The Treasurer’s publication of the fee unit value is an administrative requirement; the Regulations do not specify enforcement steps or penalties for failure by the Treasurer to publish the value. The Explanatory details note the statutory publishing requirement, which creates an administrative precondition for converting fee unit figures into dollar amounts.

• The instrument imposes a duty on inspectors to include travel time in calculating chargeable time (reg 6(2)). There is no parallel provision setting a time‑recording standard, dispute resolution mechanism, or audit right for regulated entities to challenge a recorded time. Any practical enforcement or dispute mechanism for contested charged amounts is therefore not provided here.

• The revocation of the 2008 Regulations is effected by reg 4. There is no transitional penalty or savings clause in the Regulations that addresses outstanding charges or previously imposed fees under the revoked instrument. How outstanding debts from the prior regime are treated is not addressed in this subordinate instrument.

• The Endnotes record that the Regulations will sunset 10 years after making (17 July 2028) pursuant to the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994. The sunset is a non‑enforcement temporal limitation on the Regulations’ effect, but the Endnotes do not specify transitional enforcement arrangements at sunset.

If a practitioner needs to advise on enforcement or penalties related to fee non‑payment, the principal Act and the administering authority’s procedural rules should be consulted, because this instrument does not provide enforcement mechanisms or penalties itself.

The Regulations are explicitly connected to two statutory frameworks: the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 and the Monetary Units Act 2004. The Explanatory details and the is‑clauses show how the instrument sits in the statutory architecture.

Primary statutory link , Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981

• The Regulations are made under s 69M of the principal Act (reg 2). They prescribe amounts "for the purposes of" specific sections of that Act: reg 5(1) references s 62(2)(b) and reg 5(2) references s 67(1)(b). Those citations indicate that the principal Act contains provisions requiring prescribed fees for applications and renewals and that this subordinate instrument fulfils that prescription function.
• The charging powers given to inspectors (reg 6) must be read alongside the inspection, sampling, supervision and enforcement powers granted to inspectors by the principal Act. The subordinate instrument does not recreate or expand inspection powers; rather it monetises specified inspector activities that arise under the principal Act.
• The revocation of the 2008 Regulations (reg 4) means this instrument replaces that earlier subordinate instrument within the regime established by the principal Act. The Endnotes record the making date of the new Regulations and the revocation target (S.R. No. 98/2008).

Monetary Units Act 2004

• The Regulations rely on the fee unit mechanism described in the Explanatory details. Under the Monetary Units Act 2004, quantities expressed as fee units are converted to monetary amounts by multiplying by the Treasurer’s fee unit value for the relevant financial year (the Explanatory details refer to s 7 of that Act). The Regulations therefore depend on the Treasurer’s administrative action to set the fee unit value and on the publication requirement for that value in the Government Gazette and a Victorian newspaper (Explanatory details).
• The instrument’s use of fee units creates automatic indexation or at least linkage to the fee unit value. Changes to the Monetary Units Act or to the Treasurer’s published fee unit value will directly change the dollar cost of all specified fees and inspector charges without the need to amend these Regulations.

Subordinate Legislation Act 1994

• The Endnotes record the expiry/sunset mechanism: these Regulations will sunset 10 years after the day of making under section 5 of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994. That places a temporal limit on the instrument’s operation and invites administrative planning for replacement or renewal.

Practical interaction points

• Because the Regulations transform fee‑unit figures into monetary obligations, practitioners must link the Regulations to the current fee unit value published under the Monetary Units Act to obtain the actual dollar amounts payable. The Explanatory details provide the 2018-19 fee unit value ($14.45) but also set the expectation that the Treasurer will fix future values.
• The Regulations impose time‑based charges that are meaningful only when read with the principal Act’s inspection and enforcement provisions. The Regulations do not, on their face, broaden inspection powers; they attach a cost to actions inspectors take under the principal Act.

Missing connections in the instrument

• The Regulations do not cross‑reference procedural provisions such as invoicing, payment deadlines, recovery of unpaid fees, or consequences for failure to pay. Those enforcement and administrative consequences therefore must be located in other instruments or in the principal Act. The Regulations likewise do not amend or define substantive licensing criteria in the principal Act; they only set monetary terms. Practitioners should therefore consult the principal Act and any administrative guidelines of the administering agency to understand how these fees fit into the overall compliance and enforcement architecture.

The Regulations’ internal record of amendments is succinct. The instrument as published records the following history and points about amendments.

• The Regulations were made on 17 July 2018 by the Governor in Council under s 69M of the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 and commenced on 24 August 2018 (Endnotes, General information; reg 3).

• Regulation 4 expressly revokes the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances (Industrial Hemp) Regulations 2008 (S.R. No. 98/2008). The Explanatory details confirm the earlier instrument being revoked (Reg. 4: S.R. No. 98/2008).

• The Endnotes include a specific "Table of Amendments" section where, as at the date of publication (version as at 24 August 2018), there are no amendments made to the 2018 Regulations by statutory rules, subordinate instruments or Acts. The Table of Amendments entry states: "There are no amendments made to the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances (Industrial Hemp) Regulations 2018 by statutory rules, subordinate instruments and Acts." (Endnotes, Table of Amendments).

• The Explanatory details state that the Regulations will sunset 10 years after the day of making (17 July 2028) under the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994. This introduces an expiry mechanism that will remove the Regulations from the statute book unless action is taken to remake or replace them prior to the sunset date.

• The Explanatory details also record technical information about fee unit calculation and the value of a fee unit for the financial year commencing 1 July 2018 ($14.45). It explains the statutory method for calculating monetary amounts from fee units and the rounding convention to the nearest 10 cents.

• No amendments or amendment proposals are recorded in the "Amendments Not in Operation" section; that entry states there are none as at the publication date.

• Because the instrument was recently made as of the version date (24 August 2018) and contains a revocation of its 2008 predecessor, the amendment history is, to this point, essentially the substitution of the 2018 Regulations for the 2008 Regulations and the setting of a sunset date.

Practitioners needing to rely on historical versions or earlier fee structures should note the revocation in reg 4 and consult the revoked 2008 Regulations (S.R. No. 98/2008) if historical comparison is necessary. For prospective fee amounts, the relevant variable will be the fee unit value fixed by the Treasurer for each financial year; that value, and any subsequent amendments to the Monetary Units Act, will effectively update the monetary amounts tied to these Regulations without amending the subordinate instrument itself.

The instrument’s Endnotes and published material do not record any litigation or cases arising from these Regulations. The formal sections of the Regulations and the Endnotes include:

• The Endnotes contain a "Table of Amendments" and an "Amendments Not in Operation" section; both entries state there are no amendments as at the date of publication. There is no entry in the Endnotes documenting legal proceedings, judicial interpretation, or case law relating to the 2018 Regulations.

• The instrument’s text does not cite or refer to any judicial decisions, nor does it include transitional or savings clauses that often attract litigation. The Regulations are narrowly prescriptive on fees and charging mechanics; they do not create novel regulatory powers or definitions that would, on their face, be likely to generate immediate litigationary questions recorded in the instrument.

• The Explanatory details and Endnotes do not include references to any judicial reviews, appeals or disputes concerning the validity of the Regulations or the revocation of the 2008 Regulations.

• Where case law exists relevant to fees, inspectors’ powers, or the parent Act, such case law is not reproduced in this instrument. The absence of litigation references in these Regulations’ Endnotes indicates that, at least as at the version date (24 August 2018), there were no formally recorded legal disputes tied to the content of this subordinate instrument.

For practitioners, the absence of reported litigation in the instrument itself is not the same as an absence of judicial authority that might interpret the principal Act or broader administrative law principles relevant to inspectors’ conduct, fee imposition, or local administrative practices. The Regulations should therefore be read against the backdrop of the principal Act and general administrative law, but any judicial treatment specific to these Regulations is not recorded in the legislative publication provided here.

This short instrument contains a number of technical details and drafting choices that have practical, budgetary and administrative implications. The following are concrete traps and attention points grounded in the text.

Fees are expressed in fee units, not dollars

• The Regulations prescribe fees in fee units (reg 5 and reg 6). The Explanatory details require multiplication by the value of the fee unit under the Monetary Units Act 2004 (Endnotes, Explanatory details). The fee unit value is fixed annually by the Treasurer and published before 1 June in the preceding financial year. Failure to use the currently published fee unit value will produce incorrect dollar calculations. For the 2018-19 year, the Explanatory details provide $14.45 as the value.

Rounding to the nearest 10 cents

• The Explanatory details authorise rounding of the calculated fee to the nearest 10 cents. Multiplying fee units by the fee unit value can produce fractional cents. Practitioners must apply the rounding rule consistently. For example, using the 2018-19 fee unit value, the 30 fee unit application fee calculates as 30 × $14.45 = $433.50; the 9.5 fee unit renewal fee calculates as 9.5 × $14.45 = $137.275 which, per the rounding rule, becomes $137.30.

Quarter‑hour billing and "part thereof"

• Inspectors charge 3.5 fee units for each quarter of an hour or part thereof (reg 6(1)). The "part thereof" provision means any commenced quarter is chargeable, so brief attendance of a few minutes counts as a full quarter‑hour increment. That increases effective hourly rates because the billing unit can create rounding up.

Travel time is chargeable

• Regulation 6(2) expressly requires inclusion of an inspector’s travel time between the service location and the inspector’s principal work location when calculating chargeable time. This makes geographic remoteness a real cost driver. The Regulations do not provide a separate travel‑only rate or cap; travel time is charged at the same 3.5 fee units per quarter hour rate and subject to the daily cap.

Mandatory imposition by inspectors

• The regulation language in 6(1) states inspectors are "authorised and required to impose fees and charges" at the stated rate. That is a drafting choice that removes inspector discretion to waive or refuse to impose charges under these provisions. Administrative waiver procedures therefore, if they exist, would have to come from the principal Act or agency policy; they are not found here.

Daily cap per service

• There is a daily maximum of 56 fee units "in respect of each service" (reg 6(3)). Because it reads "each service," multiple distinct services on the same day may each attract their own separate cap. The Regulations do not define "each service" for aggregation purposes, so an inspector’s work that touches multiple listed categories could attract multiple caps. The instrument does not provide a global daily cap per inspector or per site.

Online assessments included

• Regulation 6(1)(d) explicitly includes "online assessments" in the list of chargeable activities. Even remote or desk‑based assessments for premises proposed to be added to an authority are chargeable under the same time‑based regime.

No express collection or dispute procedure

• The Regulations do not set payment timing, invoicing formalities, or dispute resolution mechanisms for contested fees. Non‑payment remedies are not in the text. Practitioners should look to the principal Act or administrative policies for enforcement, but the Regulations themselves do not address this.

Sunset and temporal planning

• The Endnotes state the instrument will sunset 10 years after making (17 July 2028). Businesses and advisers should note the limited statutory lifespan and anticipate possible changes or remaking of the instrument before the sunset date.

Revocation of prior Regulations

• The 2008 Regulations are revoked by reg 4. There is no transitional clause in this instrument regarding fees already paid or inspections already charged under the revoked instrument.

Fee conversions will change without amendment

• Because fees are expressed in fee units, actual dollar amounts will fluctuate with the Treasurer’s annual fee unit value. The Regulations therefore enable automatic dollar changes without the need to amend the Regulations themselves. That creates an administrative point: budget and compliance planning must track the Treasurer’s annual announcement.

These drafting and administrative features are embedded in the Regulations’ text and the Explanatory details. They are practical risk points for applicants, authority‑holders and their advisers to check when budgeting, scheduling inspections, or preparing applications and renewals.

The Regulations’ compliance task is primarily financial calculation and administrative readiness. The steps below are grounded in the instrument and its Explanatory details.

1. Identify the relevant fee unit value for the financial year

• Consult the Treasurer’s publication of the fee unit value in the Government Gazette and a Victorian newspaper before 1 June preceding the financial year as required under the Monetary Units Act 2004 (Explanatory details). Do not rely on the 2018-19 value ($14.45) unless the application or inspection takes place within that financial year.

2. Calculate application and renewal fees

• For an application for an authority to cultivate and process low‑THC cannabis, apply reg 5(1): multiply 30 fee units by the current fee unit value and round the result to the nearest 10 cents (Explanatory details). For an authority renewal, apply reg 5(2): multiply 9.5 fee units by the current fee unit value and round to the nearest 10 cents.

3. Budget for inspector charges and instruct staff

• For anticipated inspections, sampling, sampling supervision or online assessments, expect to be charged at a rate of 3.5 fee units per quarter of an hour or part thereof under reg 6(1). When planning, use the current fee unit value to convert the 3.5 fee units into dollars and multiply by the number of chargeable quarter hours. Remember to include travel time, which is chargeable per reg 6(2).

4. Understand the daily cap and how it applies

• The maximum daily amount an inspector may impose "in respect of each service" is 56 fee units (reg 6(3)). When multiple services are to be performed on the same day (for example sampling and then supervision of destruction), the cap may apply separately to each category of service. That can affect total daily exposure; plan schedules to control cumulative costs where possible.

5. Record time consistently and check invoices

• Because charging is by quarter hour or part thereof and travel time is chargeable, require precise time records for inspector activities and travel. Inspectors are required by the Regulations to impose fees, so expect formal invoices. Apply the rounding rule in the Explanatory details to verify correct numerical conversion to dollars.

6. Plan site visits to minimise travel time costs

• Although the Regulations charge travel time to regulated persons, organising inspections to cluster activities or to permit online assessments where appropriate (and acceptable to the administering authority) can affect the amount of inspector travel time charged. Note that online assessments are expressly chargeable (reg 6(1)(d)), so online options are not cost‑free.

7. Check payment, recovery and dispute procedures with the administering authority

• The Regulations do not set payment terms or dispute mechanisms. Prior to an inspection or application, confirm with the administering agency the invoicing process, payment deadlines, methods to query or dispute charges, and whether there are internal waiver or hardship arrangements. Obtain written confirmation where practicable.

8. Track the sunset and regulatory changes

• These Regulations will sunset on 17 July 2028 unless remade or otherwise extended (Endnotes, General information). For longer‑term planning, monitor any proposed amendments or remaking processes that could change fees, rates, or charging practices.

9. Retain documentation for audits

• Because the fee mechanism links to the Monetary Units Act and the Treasurer’s annual value, retain copies of the fee unit value publication applicable to the fee year, invoices, time records and any communications with inspectors or the administering agency to support accounting, tax treatment, or audit inquiries.

10. Coordinate with licensing and operational timelines

• Application and renewal fees are prescribed by reference to specific sections of the principal Act (reg 5(1) and 5(2)). Ensure timing of applications and renewals align with budgeting and with the Treasurer’s fee unit announcements to avoid unexpected fee changes between application submission and invoice.

Following these steps will align practical administrative actions with the Regulations’ text: calculate fees by applying the current fee unit value and rounding rule; expect mandatory inspector charges by quarter‑hour (including travel); and confirm procedural details with the administering authority because the Regulations do not address payment timing, disputes, or recovery.