Why Australia is a world-leader in complementary health regulation

Australia’s rigorous regulatory framework that supports and controls the complementary health sector is regarded as gold standard. Run by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, it’s also why consumers here and in Asia are opting for regulated products they can place their trust in. But what is far less appreciated are the economic health dividends that can flow when regulatory settings that assists industry good standing as well as putting in place controls.

One of the reasons Australia boasts such a developed and innovative vitamins, minerals and supplements market is because of its mature and responsive regulatory settings. Based on firm scientific evidence, Australia treats this group of therapeutic products as low risk in consumer safety terms, whilst ensuring they are only made to the highest global standards.

“This puts Australia’s federal government in a trusted and beneficial position to reach out and help educate global regulators in other countries to achieve best-practice.”

This in turn makes it relatively simple for industry to bring these products to market, meaning that businesses can test, trial and roll-out products without major health risks to consumers — and within commercial sensibilities.

Here, consumers are protected by three ‘pathway to market’ models. These require that food products must meet the relevant Food Standards Australia New Zealand criteria, while complementary medicines are governed by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) as low risk ‘listed’ products. (The TGA also governs products above low risk giving the model it’s third arm).

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