Part 1Preliminary provisions
4Overview
This Act—
Principles
- sets out principles of responsible regulation (see section 8); and
- provides for the explanatory note of a Government Bill, a Government amendment, or secondary legislation to include (or link to) the following (see subpart 2 of Part 2):
- a consistency accountability statement. This statement is made by the chief executive of the responsible agency for the legislation. It confirms that the agency has reviewed the legislation for consistency with the principles and summarises any inconsistency that is identified in the review:
- a statement from the responsible Minister for the Bill or amendment or the maker of the secondary legislation. This statement briefly explains the Government’s or maker’s reasons for any inconsistency with the principles that is identified in the consistency accountability statement; and
- a consistency accountability statement. This statement is made by the chief executive of the responsible agency for the legislation. It confirms that the agency has reviewed the legislation for consistency with the principles and summarises any inconsistency that is identified in the review:
- provides for when an explanatory note is not required to include (or link to) the statements (see sections 10, 12, and 14); and
- gives public service chief executives a responsibility to proactively engage in stewardship of regulatory systems and ensure that their agencies also do so (see section 15); and
- requires the chief executive of the Ministry that is responsible for this Act to give at least 4-yearly briefings on the state of the regulatory management system (see section 16); and
- requires responsible agencies for existing legislation to develop plans for regularly reviewing the legislation for consistency with the principles and to report on the reviews, with certain exceptions (see sections 17 to 22); and
- requires chief executives to act independently when making a consistency accountability statement or giving a briefing under section 16 (see section 23); and
- confirms that the Act does not confer or impose legal rights or duties or affect the validity of any legislation (see subpart 5 of Part 2); and
- provides for the regulatory standards Minister and the Attorney-General to jointly issue guidance (see subpart 6 of Part 2); and
- establishes a Regulatory Standards Board to carry out inquiries into whether existing legislation is inconsistent with the principles and to consider consistency accountability statements for Government Bills (see subpart 7 of Part 2); and
- provides for reports on regulatory reviews that are carried out by the Ministry that is responsible for this Act to be presented to the House of Representatives together with the Government’s response (see section 41); and
- gives the chief executive of that Ministry powers to obtain information to support the Ministry’s role (see sections 42 to 47).
This section is only a guide to the general scheme and effect of this Act.