Regulatory Standards Bill
Page updated 7 Jul 2011
Hon Rodney Hide, Minister for Regulatory Reform, introduced the Regulatory Standards Bill to Parliament on 15 March 2011.
The Regulatory Standards Bill aims to improve the quality of regulation in New Zealand. The Bill proposes:
- A set of legislative principles that all good regulation (being Acts of Parliament, statutory regulations, and tertiary legislation, but excluding regulation made by local government) should comply with.
- A requirement that Ministers and Chief Executives responsible for regulation certify as to whether that regulation is consistent with the principles before the regulation is made.
- A new power to the courts to declare that a particular piece of regulation is inconsistent with one or more principles.
- A number of supporting changes.
The Regulatory Standards Bill was produced by the Regulatory Responsibility Taskforce. The Government established the Taskforce in 2009 following a recommendation from the Commerce Committee. The Commerce Committee made this recommendation in the context of its consideration of the Regulatory Responsibility Bill, an earlier version of the Regulatory Standards Bill, which was introduced into the House as a private member’s bill in 2006. The National-ACT Confidence and Supply Agreement included a commitment from the National-led Government to establish a taskforce to carry forward work on the bill.
The Regulatory Responsibility Taskforce produced its draft bill (then still known as the Regulatory Responsibility Bill) and an accompanying report on 30 September 2009.
Hon Rodney Hide released the Bill and accompanying report on 29 October 2009. The Bill and the report are available here.
From late June to late August 2010, the Government ran a public consultation process on the draft bill produced by the Taskforce. Submitters were asked to respond to a set of questions on the draft bill and regulatory quality more generally.
The Treasury produced a Regulatory Impact Statement on the Regulatory Standards Bill. That Regulatory Impact Statement is available here.
Documents
| Doc. Date | Created by | Title | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 Mar 2011 | Hon Rodney Hide, Minister for Regulatory Reform |
Regulatory Standards Bill - Cabinet Paper Released |
On the Beehive website. |
| 14 Feb 2011 | Cabinet Office | CAB Min (11) 4/5: Report of the Cabinet Economic Growth and Infrastructure Committee: Period Ended 11 February 2011 Released 31 March 2011 |
cabmin-11-4-5.pdf (183 KB) |
| 9 Feb 2011 | Cabinet Office | EGI Min (11) 1/10: Adoption of the Regulatory Responsibility Bill Drafted by the Regulatory Responsibility Taskforce Released 31 March 2011 |
egimin-11-1-10.pdf (316 KB) |
| 2 Feb 2011 | Office of the Minister for Regulatory Reform | Memorandum to Cabinet Economic Growth Committee EGI (11) 7: Adoption of the Regulatory Responsibility Bill Drafted by the Regulatory Responsibility Taskforce Released 31 March 2011 |
egimemo-11-7.pdf (993 KB) |
| 15 Mar 2011 | New Zealand Legislation | Regulatory Standards Bill |
On the New Zealand Legislation website. |
| 2 Feb 2011 | The Treasury | Regulatory Impact Statement for the Regulatory Standards Bill: Regulating for Better Regulation - What is the Potential of a Regulatory Responsibility Act | ris-tsy-rbr-mar11.pdf (136 KB) |
| 15 Mar 2011 | Hon Rodney Hide, Minister for Regulatory Reform |
New Bill Sets Higher Standards for Regulation |
On the Beehive website. |
| 28 Jun 2010 | Hon Rodney Hide, Minister for Regulatory Reform |
Submissions invited on Regulatory Responsibility Bill |
On the Beehive website. |
| Jun 2010 | Hon Rodney Hide, Minister for Regulatory Reform |
Questions Arising from the Regulatory Responsibility Bill Released 28 June 2010. |
rrb-questions-jun10.pdf(76 KB) |
| Jul 2010 | Hon Rodney Hide, Minister for Regulatory Reform |
Word Version: Questions Arising from the Regulatory Responsibility Bill Released 1 July 2010. |
rrb-questions-jun10.doc(170 KB) |
| 29 Oct 2009 | Hon Rodney Hide, Minister for Regulatory Reform |
Minister welcomes Regulatory Responsibility Taskforce report |
On the Beehive website. |
| 30 Sep 2009 | Regulatory Responsibility Taskforce | Report of the Regulatory Responsibility Taskforce Released 29 October 2009. Now available in HTML format. |
rrt-report-sep09.pdf(680 KB) |
| 1 Apr 2009 | Hon Rodney Hide, Minister for Regulatory Reform |
Regulatory Taskforce members named |
On the Beehive website. |
| 9 Mar 2009 | Office of the Minister of Finance, Office of the Minister for Regulatory Reform |
Regulatory Responsibility Taskforce - Terms of Reference | tor-reg-taskforce-v2.pdf(34 KB) |
