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Licensing · ACT

Trade licensing in Australian Capital Territory

The short answer

Access Canberra licenses builders, electricians, plumbers, gasfitters and drainers under one Act, and its public registers show licence status plus any disciplinary action.

Checked against 7 published sources, listed in full at the end of this page. How we source this

Who regulates what

BuildingAccess Canberra
Builders and building assessors are licensed under the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act 2004.Access Canberra ↗
ElectricalAccess Canberra
Electricians and gas appliance workers are licensed under the same Act and appear on the same registers.Access Canberra ↗
Plumbing and gasAccess Canberra
Plumbers, drainers and gasfitters are licensed construction occupations in the ACT.Access Canberra ↗
Consumer disputesAccess Canberra, then ACAT
Access Canberra publishes guidance on choosing a tradesperson and handles complaints.Access Canberra ↗

How to check a licence in ACT

  1. Ask for the licence number, name or business name, which is what the register searches on.
  2. Search the relevant construction occupations public register.
  3. Check the licence status, which now includes expired, suspended, surrendered and cancelled.
  4. Open the details tab to see any disciplinary action recorded against the licence holder.
  5. Confirm the ABN on ABN Lookup matches the quote.

The ACT runs the most integrated construction licensing system in the country. Builders, plumbers, electricians, gasfitters and building assessors are all licensed under the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act 2004 and searchable through the same registers.

Two checks that are the same wherever you live

Almost every trade credential in Australia is issued by a state, so checking one means knowing which register to search. Two are national, which makes them the easiest checks available to you:

  • Air conditioning: an ARCtick refrigerant handling licence from the Australian Refrigeration Council. Handling refrigerant without one is an offence.
  • Solar: accreditation with Solar Accreditation Australia, which took over from the Clean Energy Council on 29 February 2024. Without it your system cannot generate the federal certificates that fund the discount.

Related questions

Can I see if an ACT tradesperson has been disciplined?
Yes. Access Canberra's construction occupations registers show disciplinary action under the licence holder's details tab, alongside licence statuses including suspended and cancelled. Most jurisdictions do not publish this much.

Sources

Every source below was fetched and its response recorded on the date shown. Where a government site blocks automated clients, that is noted rather than reported as a successful check.

  1. Access Canberra · Access CanberraChecked 2026-08-10 · responded 200 OK
  2. Choosing a tradesperson · Access CanberraChecked 2026-08-10 · responded 200 OK
  3. Building and construction · Access CanberraChecked 2026-08-10 · responded 200 OK
  4. Refrigerant Handling Licence · Australian Refrigeration CouncilChecked 2026-08-10 · responded 200 OK
  5. About accreditation · Solar Accreditation AustraliaChecked 2026-08-10 · responded 200 OK
  6. ABN Lookup · Australian Business RegisterChecked 2026-08-10 · responded 200 OK
  7. Consumer rights and guarantees · Australian Competition and Consumer CommissionChecked 2026-08-10 · responded 200 OK

Read next

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