The Regulatory Standards Bill
Public submissions on the proposed contents of the Regulatory Standards Bill have now closed. Thank you to all who submitted.
The Regulatory Standards Bill aims to improve the quality of regulation in New Zealand so regulatory decisions are based on principles of good law-making and economic efficiency. Good regulation can help governments to achieve their desired economic, environmental and social outcomes, support the effective operation of markets, and protect communities from harm.
This Bill aims to reduce the amount of unnecessary and poor regulation, through making it transparent where regulation does, or does not, meet principles of responsible regulation.
It’s proposed that the Regulatory Standards Bill would include:
- a benchmark for good regulation through a set of principles of responsible regulation
- mechanisms to transparently assess the consistency of new legislative proposals and existing regulation with the principles, and
- a mechanism for independent consideration of the consistency of existing regulation, primarily in response to stakeholder concerns.
It would also include provisions to support the Ministry for Regulation in its work to improve the quality of regulation.
Public submissions process
The submission process asked for feedback on what a Bill should aim to do, and what it should include, rather than the specific provisions or wording of a Bill.
Public submissions opened on 19 November 2024 and closed at 11:59pm on 13 January 2025 – just over 8 weeks. This allowed time for public feedback to be collated and analysed, informing final policy decisions prior to the drafting of the Bill.
The process for public submissions, including the timeframe, was notified via the Ministry’s website, media release, and social media channels.
Approximately 23,000 submissions were received on the proposed contents of the Bill.
Note: Triaging and analysis of submissions will take at least several weeks due to the volume of submissions that we received. Therefore, there could be a delay in responding to you if you have raised an OIA request as part of your submission.
If you have raised an information request under the OIA as part of your submission, please re-submit your request through hello@regulation.govt.nz to ensure it is not missed and can be addressed in accordance with the Official Information Act 1982.
Next steps
The team is busy triaging and analysing submissions and a summary report will be available later in 2025, once it has been provided to the Minister for Regulation for consideration.
The feedback received will inform the development of a Bill the Government intends to introduce to Parliament later this year. The timing of the Bill’s introduction will be dependent on final policy decisions and the Parliamentary legislation programme.
There will be a further opportunity to provide feedback on the Bill as it progresses through select committee. At this point, the Bill would be made available on Parliament’s website, and the select committee that the Bill is referred to would subsequently invite submissions on the Bill.
More information
Have your say on the proposed Regulatory Standards Bill (1.6 MB, Pdf)
Interim Regulatory Impact Statement (696 KB, Pdf)