This annual report complies with the requirements of Commonwealth legislation. The principal reporting requirements, and some of their consequences for the FRDC, are outlined in this appendix. The Acts are:

• Primary Industries Research and Development Act 1989 (PIRD Act),
• Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act),
• Environment Protection and biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Section 16A).

PGPA Act requirements

The PGPA Act is one of the principal pieces of legislation that specifies the content and standards of presentation of statutory authorities’ annual reports for parliamentary scrutiny.

Part 2–3: Planning, Performance and Accountability consolidates government policy for planning and performance reporting with budgets and actuals for both financial and non-financial measures. Section 46 of the PGPA Act requires the FRDC’s directors to prepare an annual report in accordance with PGPA Rules, and to give it to the responsible Minister by 15 October.

PIRD Act requirements

The PIRD Act also specifies matters that must be reported. In particular, section 28 states:

(1) The annual report prepared by the directors of an R&D Corporation and given to the Minister under section 46 of the PGPA Act for a period must include:

(a) particulars of:

(i) the R&D activities that it coordinated or funded, wholly or partly, during the period, and (ia) if a levy attached to the Corporation had a marketing component during the period — the marketing activities that it coordinated or funded, wholly or partly, during the period, and

(ii) the amount that it spent during the period in relation to each of those activities, and

(iib) the impact of those activities on the primary industry or class of primary industries in respect of which the Corporation was established, and

(iii) revisions of its R&D plan approved by the Minister during the period, and

(iv) the entering into of agreements under sections 13 and 14 during the period and its activities during the period in relation to agreements entered into under that section during or prior to the period, and

(v) its activities during the period in relation to applying for patents for inventions, commercially exploiting patented inventions and granting licences under patented inventions, and

(vi) the activities of any companies in which the Corporation has an interest, and

(vii) any activities relating to the formation of a company, and

(viii) significant acquisitions and dispositions of real property by it during the period, and

(b) an assessment of the extent to which its operations during the period have:

(i) achieved its objectives as stated in its R&D plan, and

(ii) implemented the annual operational plan applicable to the period, and

(c) an assessment of the extent to which the Corporation has, during the period, contributed to the attainment of the objects of this Act as set out in section 3, and

(d) in respect of the grain industry or such other primary industry or class of primary industries as is prescribed in the regulations, particulars of sources and expenditure of funds, including:

(i) commodity, cross commodity and regional classifications, and

(ii) funds derived from transfer of assets, debts, liabilities and obligations under section 144.

EPBC Act requirements

Section 516A requires annual reports for Commonwealth entities to report against the criteria set out in that section of the Act.

Part 21 — Reporting — Division 1 — Annual reports

Section 516A: Annual reports to deal with environmental matters

1. A report described in subsection (1), (4) or (5) relating to a body or person (the reporter) for a period must:
   1. include a report on how the activities of, and the administration (if any) of legislation by, the reporter during the period accorded with the principles of ecologically sustainable development, and
   2. identify how the outcomes (if any) specified for the reporter in an Appropriations Act relating to the period contribute to ecologically sustainable development, and
   3. document the effect of the reporter’s activities on the environment, and
   4. identify any measures the reporter is taking to minimise the impact of activities by the reporter on the environment, and
   5. identify the mechanisms (if any) for reviewing and increasing the effectiveness of those measures.