The government has, over time, developed views about what makes a good regulatory system and what is good stewardship practice for a regulatory agency.
These views have been consolidated, updated and released as the 2017 Government Expectations for Good Regulatory Practice for the reference of government regulatory agencies.
The updated government expectations are divided into two main parts:
Part A sets out the Government’s expectations for the design of regulatory systems, identifying the features that a good regulatory system should have.
Part B sets out the Government’s expectations for regulatory stewardship by government agencies, identifying the actions that regulatory agencies should take to discharge their regulatory stewardship obligations. This is further divided into three sections covering:
- monitoring, review and reporting on existing regulatory systems
- robust analysis and implementation support for changes to regulatory systems, and
- good regulator practice.
The 2017 Expectations draw significantly on, but now formally replace, all earlier statements of government expectations. They incorporate key elements from the 2009 “Government Statement on Regulation” and the 1997 “Code of Good Regulatory Practice”. They also update and extend the scope of the 2013 “Initial Expectations for Regulatory Stewardship” to more clearly include regulatory implementation and practice.
The extended scope of the 2017 Expectations makes them relevant to a wider range of government regulatory agencies. The government expects that all government regulatory agencies will have regard, and give appropriate effect, to these good regulation principles and regulatory stewardship responsibilities, within the bounds of their agency resources and mandates.
The full set of expectations can be found in the document published below.