How does the DDA relate to the Building Code of Australia and to Australian Standards?
See our advisory note on access to premises for detailed comments on this. See also our guidelines on access to buildings and services for advice on achieving access in practice and our information on draft Disability Standards on Access to Premises which will harmonise the access provisions of the BCA and DDA. Note that nothing in the terms or effect of the DDA operates to diminish, or excuse non-compliance with, the requirements of other laws. Specifically, the DDA does not operate to import any “unjustifiable hardship” qualification into State or Territory building laws so far as compliance with BCA minimum requirements is concerned. The true position is that both laws have to be complied with in their own terms. This means that in any case where bulding law and the BCA impose more demanding requirements than the DDA would, the BCA requirement must nonetheless be complied with. In any case where the DDA is more demanding or broader than the BCA, the DDA has to be complied with.
