We are seeking your views on the fees and cost recovery arrangements for classification services, to inform the 2025 Cost Recovery Implementation Statement.
Why we want your input
Your feedback will inform a 2025 Cost Recovery Implementation Statement for classification services and future cost recovery arrangements that reflect the needs and expectations of stakeholders within government and industry.How you can voice your opinion
Please read the Stakeholder Engagement Paper, consider the questions and upload or email your feedback by 21 July 2025.What will be the outcome of this consultation?
Your feedback will inform the 2025 Cost Recovery Implementation Statement, which will be published on the Australian Classification website and the department’s website.The Issue
Under the National Classification Scheme (the Scheme) every film, computer game and submittable publication (with limited exceptions) must be classified before it can be legally distributed in Australia. Classification ratings help Australians make informed choices about what to watch, play and read – highlighting the impact of viewing content.
The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts recovers the costs of providing the classification service by prescribing fees.
The current classification fees were set in 2011, however the intervening years have seen a rapid growth in digital and online content and significant change in the way Australians access content.
In response, the Australian Government has modernised the Scheme by introducing industry self-classification options. These reforms have impacted how classification services are regulated and delivered, requiring the department to consider the cost recovery arrangements for these services.
This engagement process aims to:
- inform stakeholders about the development of a 2025 Cost Recovery Implementation Statement (CRIS), and the potential need to review the department’s cost recovery model in support of this
- gather feedback on the likely impact that changes to fees may have on industry stakeholders
- seek to identify any possible unintended consequences and/or implementation challenges
- ensure transparency in relation to the issues that may influence future fee changes.
Relevant documentation
Participate
23 Jun 2025 09:00 AEST
21 Jul 2025 23:59 AEST
Open
days
remaining 27 of 29
We invite you to tell us your views on this topic.
Please include:
- contact name
- organisation name, if applicable
- contact details, including telephone number, postal and email addresses
- confirmation whether or not your submission can be made public—published—or kept confidential.
If your submission is confidential, please ensure each page of the submission is marked as confidential.
Please click on the 'Have your say now' button below to upload your submission.
Alternatively, please email your comments or submission to OperationalPolicy@communications.gov.au.
Privacy Collection Notice
Cost Recovery Impact Statement for classification services
Your comments or submission, including any personal information supplied, is being collected by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts (“the Department”) in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988.
Use
The Department may use your comments or submission to inform the development of a Cost Recovery Impact Statement, Portfolio Charging Reviews, potential future changes to the department’s cost recovery model, changes to classification services fees.
Disclosure
The Department may share your submission, in part or in full, with appropriate departmental stakeholders and third party consultants contracted by the Department to develop the 2025 Cost Recovery Implementation StatementYour submission will not be published or disclosed unless authorised or required by law.
Contacting You
The Department may use your contact information to make further contact with you about your submission and the consultation process.
Publication
Identifiable comments and submissions will not be published on the Department’s website. De-identified comments may be quoted in subsequent reports or documents prepared by the Department or third party contractors.
Confidentiality
Confidential submissions will only be disclosed in the following circumstances:
- in response to a request by a Commonwealth Minister;
- where required by a House or a Committee of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia;
- where necessary in the public interest; or
- where authorised or required by law.
Submissions will only be treated as confidential if they are expressly stated to be confidential. Automatically generated confidentiality statements or disclaimers appended to an email do not suffice for this purpose. If you wish you make a confidential submission, you must indicate this by ensuring your submission is clearly marked confidential. Even if a submission is not marked confidential, the department may choose not to publish it, or any part of it, in the Department’s discretion (for example where it includes personal information or opinions about a third party).
Access
The Department will securely store your personal information and the Department’s privacy policy contains information regarding complaint handling processes and how to access and/or seek correction of personal information held by the department. Further information is available at Privacy | Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts.