General policy statement
The Regulatory Standards Bill aims to reduce the amount of unnecessary and poor-quality regulation by increasing transparency and making it clearer where legislation does not meet standards. It intends to bring the same discipline to regulatory management that New Zealand has for fiscal management.
The Bill aims to—
promote the accountability of the Executive to Parliament for developing high-quality legislation and exercising stewardship over regulatory systems; and
support Parliament’s ability to scrutinise Bills; and
support Parliament in overseeing and controlling the use of delegated powers to make legislation.
The Regulatory Standards Bill will aim to achieve its purposes by—
providing a benchmark for good legislation through a set of principles of responsible regulation (principles); and
providing for the transparent assessment of the consistency of proposed and existing legislation with the principles (consistency accountability statements); and
establishing a Regulatory Standards Board to independently consider the consistency of proposed and existing legislation in response to stakeholder concerns, Minister for Regulation direction, or on its own accord; and
strengthening regulatory quality by supporting the Ministry for Regulation in its regulatory oversight role.
The Bill establishes a benchmark for good legislation by introducing a set of principles of responsible regulation in primary legislation, focused on the effect of legislation on—
existing interests and liberties, including the rule of law, liberties, taking of property, taxes, fees, and levies, and the role of courts; and
good law-making processes, including consultation, options analysis, and cost-benefit analysis.
The Bill requires responsible Ministers, administering agencies, and other makers of legislation to assess the consistency of proposed and existing legislation (both primary and secondary) against these principles. Where inconsistency is identified, the Bill requires a statement from the responsible Minister (or maker of secondary legislation where not a Minister) to briefly explain the reasons.
Ministers, as well as makers of secondary legislation, must publish or present to the House of Representatives the results of those assessments and explanations. Some primary and secondary legislation is excluded or exempted from these requirements.
The Bill also establishes a Regulatory Standards Board, with members to be appointed by the Minister responsible for this Bill (the Minister for Regulation), to independently assess consistency of legislation, helping incentivise Ministers and agencies to complete robust consistency accountability statements. The board can carry out inquiries following a complaint, at the direction of the Minister, or on its own accord into whether legislation is inconsistent with the principles. Any recommendations it makes are non-binding. The board will only have a role in relation to legislation that is subject to consistency assessment requirements, and could investigate consistency with the principles in 2 broad ways as follows:
it could look at consistency accountability statements of Bills as introduced into the House of Representatives, and provide a report to a select committee on its findings:
it could inquire into whether existing legislation is consistent with the principles, and report to the Minister for Regulation and responsible Minister on its findings.
Finally, the Bill strengthens regulatory quality by supporting the Ministry for Regulation in its regulatory oversight role, including by requiring the Ministry to report on the overall state of the regulatory management system. It also strengthens regulatory stewardship expectations for agencies and information-gathering powers for the Ministry to support the efficient and effective conduct of regulatory reviews.