Assessing the condition of existing regulatory systems
The Government’s “Expectations for regulatory stewardship by government agencies” set out the responsibility of regulatory agencies to, among other things:
- monitor the ongoing performance and condition of the regulatory systems and the regulatory environment in which they operate
- review each system at appropriate intervals to determine whether it is still fit-for-purpose, and likely to remain so
- use that information to proactively identify and assess, and then report or address, problems, vulnerabilities, and opportunities for improvement in the design and operation of that regulatory system.
Departmental regulatory stewardship strategies and plans
The Government response to the NZ Productivity Commission 2014 report on Regulatory Institutions and Practices sets out the Government’s expectation that each year the major regulatory departments will publish information on their regulatory management strategy, information on the state of their regulatory stock and their regulatory priorities for the year ahead (their regulatory stewardship strategy).
Since 2014, information on a department’s regulatory priorities may also be included in their Four Year Plans [Treasury update September 2024: External link no longer active] as part of the department’s medium term interventions to achieve their strategic objectives. Before 2014, departments prepared annual portfolio regulatory plans.
Best practice regulation assessments
Before the major regulatory departments began to produce and publish regulatory stewardship strategies, the Treasury attempted to collate and present a set of summary information in a standardised format on the quality or performance of a large cross-section of regulatory systems.
These regulation assessments drew on information about system performance provided by the relevant administering departments, assessed against a set of high-level “best practice” regulation principles identified by the Treasury.
See the Best Practice Regulation page for more information.
Rules Reduction Taskforce
The Government response to the Rules Reduction Taskforce 2014 report on frustrating, ineffective property rules accepts, or partially accepts, 72 of the 75 opportunities identified by the Taskforce and outlines the government measures underway to address these concerns.
Further information on the Rules Reduction Taskforce, including a copy of their report and the Government response, can be found at www.dia.govt.nz/RulesReduction. You can still identify frustrating, ineffective property rules at [email protected].
Statutes Repeal Bills and Regulatory Systems Bills
The government promised in its response to the New Zealand Productivity Commission report on Regulatory Institutions and Practices to look at mechanisms to better keep legislation up to date, including omnibus bills like:
- Statutes Repeal Bills to repeal superfluous and redundant legislation, or
- Regulatory Systems Bills to make technical or minor policy changes.