INSIGHT · MATERIALS & COMPLIANCE
Two lists decide which edition
of a standard a project relies on.
Under NCC 2025, clause A4G1(1) states that a reference to a document means the edition listed in Schedule 2 or in the register of alternative referenced documents, which the Code's notes say the ABCB maintains on its website. Note 2 states that a Schedule 2 document cannot be used simultaneously with a different edition of the same document from the register for a Deemed-to-Satisfy Provision or Verification Method. A standard's designation alone no longer identifies the edition a project relied on. Which list it came from belongs in the record.
Analysed 28 September 2026 · NCC 2025 Volume Two, Part A4 and Schedule 2 on NCC Online (no page date shown) · ABCB news item "NCC 2025 released" of 1 May 2026 · NCC Online Standards FAQ · ABCB public comment draft page of 1 May 2024 · all pages read 28 September 2026.
Key takeaways
- The Code names two lists: Clause A4G1(1): "A reference in the NCC to a document refers to the edition or issues and any amendment listed in - Schedule 2; or the register of alternative referenced documents." A note to the clause states the register "is maintained by the ABCB and is available on the ABCB website".
- A newer edition is not automatically referenced: Clause A4G1(3): where a new edition of a primary referenced document is not listed in Schedule 2 or the register, it "is not referenced for the purposes of the NCC".
- The two lists cannot be mixed for one document: Note 2 to A4G1 states that a Schedule 2 document "cannot be used simultaneously with a different edition, issue or amendment of that same document included in the register of alternative referenced documents for the purposes of a Deemed-to-Satisfy Provision or Verification Method provided in the NCC".
- The Code's own guidance asks for the edition to be written down: Explanatory information to A4G1 states that the use of referenced documents and alternative referenced documents "should be documented in building permits, occupancy certificates and other relevant project documentation and include the edition of the document used, such as the publication date".
- We would record the source list for every reference: Our system-design recommendation: for each referenced document, store the designation, the edition, which list the edition came from, the NCC edition and the date the list was read. Note 2 is what makes the source list a working field rather than an administrative one.
What the Code says
Part A4 of NCC 2025 Volume Two, the volume for Class 1 and 10 buildings, sets out how referenced documents such as Australian Standards are adopted. The clauses below are quoted as read on 28 September 2026.
In the Code text the list inside A4G1(1) is set out as two lettered items after an introducing dash. We render that dash as a hyphen.
| Provision | Text |
|---|---|
| A4G1(1) | "A reference in the NCC to a document refers to the edition or issues and any amendment listed in - Schedule 2; or the register of alternative referenced documents." |
| A4G1(3) | "Where a new edition, issue or amendment of a primary referenced document is not listed in Schedule 2 or the register of alternative referenced documents, the new edition, issue or amendment is not referenced for the purposes of the NCC." |
| Note to A4G1 | "The register of alternative referenced documents is maintained by the ABCB and is available on the ABCB website at www.abcb.gov.au." |
| Note 2 to A4G1 | "A document listed in Schedule 2 cannot be used simultaneously with a different edition, issue or amendment of that same document included in the register of alternative referenced documents for the purposes of a Deemed-to-Satisfy Provision or Verification Method provided in the NCC." |
Why the second list exists
The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) explained the change in its public comment draft material of 1 May 2024, when it was still a proposal. Before NCC 2025, practitioners had to use the Schedule 2 edition where it was referenced by a Deemed-to-Satisfy (DTS) Provision or a Verification Method, "even if there is a newer edition of the referenced document available".
- The stated purpose: The ABCB described the aim as meaning "the benefits of new editions of referenced documents can be realised much sooner than under the current arrangement", in response to requests to improve the availability of standards "outside the 3-year NCC amendment cycle".
- The no-mixing rule, in plain words: The same page stated: "you cannot mix parts of a referenced document listed in Schedule 2 with parts of an alternative referenced document to show compliance, unless a Performance Solution is used."
- How an entry arrives and leaves: The draft material stated that documents on the register would be developed under the Protocol for the Development of National Construction Code Referenced Documents, approved for reference by the ABCB, and "listed in Schedule 2 at the next amendment of the NCC".
- Newer editions on neither list: The NCC Online Standards FAQ states that a newer edition of a Schedule 2 standard "is not automatically referenced by the NCC", but "may be used as part of a Performance Solution, provided it can be demonstrated that its use meets the relevant Performance Requirements".
The current standard is not always
the referenced one.
The ABCB released NCC 2025 on 1 May 2026, and states and territories can adopt it from that date, subject to jurisdictional arrangements. Its Schedule 2 is a long table, and each entry names one edition.
AS 3600 is listed at its 2018 edition in a Code released in 2026: by our calculation (2026 minus 2018) an edition year eight years earlier than the Code's release year. For a manufacturer's documentation, "the current Australian Standard" and "the edition the NCC references" can be different statements.
| Document | Edition listed | Volume Two and Housing Provisions references |
|---|---|---|
| AS 3600 Concrete structures (incorporating amendments 1 and 2) | 2018 | H1D4, Spec 1; Housing Provisions 3.4.2, 4.2.6, 4.2.10, 4.2.13, 5.3.3, 10.2.9 |
| AS 1288 Glass in buildings - Selection and installation | 2021 | H1D8; Housing Provisions 8.3.1 |
| AS/NZS 3500 Part 2 Plumbing and drainage - Sanitary plumbing and drainage | 2025 | H2D2 |
| AS ISO 717 Part 1 Acoustics - Rating of sound insulation in buildings and of building elements - Airborne sound insulation | 2024 | H4V4; Housing Provisions 10.7.2 |
How a document set mixes editions
without anyone deciding to.
The everyday form of this problem is not a designer choosing between two lists. It is a document arriving with an edition year on it. A product data sheet, a test report or a certificate of conformity names the standard it was assessed against and, usually, an edition. A specification names a standard, sometimes without an edition. A Schedule 2 entry names a standard with an edition. These are compared at specification, substitution, procurement, installation and certification, and the comparison can be made on the designation, AS 3600, rather than on the edition.
- Each reference defensible, the set not: Suppose the specification was written against Schedule 2, one supplier's certificate cites a newer edition that is on the register, and a substitution approved in month seven was assessed against whichever edition the supplier's laboratory used. No single document is wrong. It is the kind of combination Note 2 addresses.
- Test dates matter too: Schedule 2's table notes for AS ISO 717.1 state that test reports based on ISO 717.1-2004 "and issued prior to AS ISO 717.1:2024 being referenced in the NCC remain valid", and that reports on tests carried out after the NCC reference date "must relate to the amended Standard". The date a test was carried out is part of what a report can be relied on for.
- Substitution is where the edition changes hands: A substitution can be assessed on price, lead time and performance, with the edition on the replacement's documentation assumed to have come along with it.
The list that can change
is not the one in the Code.
Schedule 2 is part of the NCC 2025 text. The register of alternative referenced documents is kept by the ABCB outside that text, and the draft material described entries moving into Schedule 2 at the next amendment. A record that captured the admissible editions on one day captured a position that can move without an amendment to the Code. For a business, where an edition's standing depends on the register, the register's address and the date it was consulted belong in the evidence.
What we would put in a system
The point of contact is the moment a document with a standard number on it enters a project. For each referenced document in a compliance demonstration, we would hold six fields.
Where agents help is narrow. A document intelligence agent can read incoming certificates, test reports and data sheets, extract each designation and edition, compare them with the project's recorded position and draft an exception list: this certificate cites an edition that does not match the specification; this designation appears at two editions across the set. A person decides whether an exception is real and what to do. No agent determines whether a product or design meets the NCC, certifies anything, or decides a mismatch is acceptable. Those are matters for the certifier, the relevant authority and your advisers.
| Field | Why it is load-bearing |
|---|---|
| Designation | For example AS 3600. On its own, it does not identify an edition. |
| Edition, issue or amendment | The quantity A4G1(1) governs, and what the Code's explanatory information says should be documented. |
| Source list | Schedule 2 or the register. Note 2 bars using both editions of one document for a DTS Provision or Verification Method. |
| Applicable NCC edition | Decides which Schedule 2 applies at all; set by jurisdictional implementation arrangements. |
| Pathway | DTS, Verification Method or Performance Solution. The no-mixing rule is stated for the first two. |
| Date the list was read | The register sits outside the Code text. A position without a read-date cannot be re-tested later. |
- Compliance & Approvals: Where the per-reference record and its read-dates belong.
- Procurement: Where a substitution brings a new edition into the set.
- Document intelligence: Extracts designation and edition and drafts the exceptions; a person confirms.
- A material selection is a commitment: A companion reading on NSW BASIX, where a material selection is recorded on a certificate.
- Is it engineered stone, and was it already installed? Two facts, each dated: Whether a product is engineered stone, and whether a benchtop was installed before 1 July 2024, each need a dated record.
Questions worth asking
of your own records
For a building-product manufacturer: does your documentation state the edition year of each standard it cites, and do you know which list that edition sits on?
The Code now recognises two lists. A certifier comparing your documentation with a project's position can reasonably ask which one your edition came from. Whether your records answer that is checkable against your own files.
For a supplier or distributor: when you offer a substitute, do you pass on the edition its test reports were issued against?
A substitute arrives with its own documents. If their edition differs from the specified product's, the set now holds two editions of one designation, and someone downstream has to notice.
For a design consultant: does your specification name an edition, or only a designation?
A designation without an edition leaves the comparison to whoever reads the supplier's certificate. The Code's explanatory information says the edition used should be documented, including its publication date.
For a builder: across one building, can you list every edition of each referenced standard that appears in its compliance documents?
Note 2 concerns the combination, not any single document. A set-level check, one edition per designation from one list, is mechanical.
What this analysis
does and does not show.
Evidence note
- What it shows
- That NCC 2025 recognises two lists of admissible referenced-document editions, that a newer edition on neither list is not referenced for NCC purposes, that Note 2 bars using a Schedule 2 document simultaneously with a different edition of it from the register for a DTS Provision or Verification Method, and that the Code's explanatory information asks for the edition used to be documented. As read on 28 September 2026 from NCC Online and ABCB pages.
- Key facts quoted
- A4G1(1), A4G1(3), the note that the register is maintained by the ABCB, and Note 2 to A4G1, verbatim; NCC 2025 released 1 May 2026; Schedule 2 entries AS 3600:2018, AS 1288:2021, AS/NZS 3500.2:2025 and AS ISO 717.1:2024; the AS ISO 717.1 table note on test reports; the ABCB's 1 May 2024 public comment draft description of the change.
- We did not read the register of alternative referenced documents. The Code's note says it is on the ABCB website.
- The ABCB explanation we quote is from its public comment draft material of 1 May 2024, which described proposed changes. Where it and the adopted Code differ, the Code text governs.
- We read Part A4 and Schedule 2 of NCC 2025 Volume Two only. Volumes One and Three carry corresponding provisions we did not read. State and territory variations, including variations to Schedule 2, were not reviewed.
- Which NCC edition applies to a project depends on jurisdictional implementation arrangements.
- Nothing here is legal advice or a determination that any product, design or project meets the NCC. Cyberate does not provide certification or conformity assessment.
Bring us one product document that cites an Australian Standard.
Send the designation, the edition printed on it and the project it was accepted on. We will show you what a per-reference record would have stored, and where a set-level check would have looked.
This article is general information about published National Construction Code provisions and how records of them are structured. It is not legal advice, it does not interpret any provision of the NCC or any Australian Standard, and it does not determine whether any product, design or project meets the NCC. It covers NCC 2025 Volume Two as published nationally. All clause text and Schedule 2 entries are as read on 28 September 2026.
Sources
Suggested citation: NCC 2025 Volume Two, Part A4 and Schedule 2 (NCC Online), with ABCB explanatory pages, as read 28 September 2026. One figure is derived: the eight-year difference between AS 3600's 2018 edition year and NCC 2025's 2026 release year, by subtraction of the two years.
- NCC Online - NCC 2025 Volume Two, Part A4 Referenced documents: No page date shown · read 28 September 2026 · National Construction Code - clause text
- NCC Online - NCC 2025 Volume Two, Schedule 2 Referenced documents: No page date shown · read 28 September 2026 · National Construction Code - referenced document schedule
- ABCB - NCC 2025 released: Published 1 May 2026 · read 28 September 2026 · Government code administrator - news item
- NCC Online - Standards (FAQ): No page date shown · read 28 September 2026 · Government code administrator - guidance
- ABCB - PCD 2025: Alternative referenced documents: Dated 1 May 2024 · read 28 September 2026 · Government code administrator - public comment draft explanation of proposed changes