The Regulatory Standards Bill

The Regulatory Standards Bill (formerly known as the Regulatory Responsibility Bill) was introduced into parliament by Hon Rodney Hide on 15 March before being sent to the Commerce Select Committee in July this year. Submissions on the bill closed on 18 August and a report from the Select Committee is due on 20 October. This time frame means that the bill will not be passed before parliament rises on 6 October, prior to the General Election.

Background
 
The bill had its origin in a 2001 report by Business Roundtable consultant Bryce Wilkinson, Constraining Government Regulation, commissioned by the Business Roundtable, Federated Farmers and the Auckland and Wellington Chambers of Commerce.  The bill was picked up by Rodney Hide as a Member’s Bill and drawn from the ballot in 2007. From there it was referred to the Commerce Select Committee which recommended it not be passed but, recognising that there was strong public and business sector support for improving the quality of regulation, further recommended that it be referred to an expert task force.
 
Following the 2008 election ACT negotiated to have included in its  Confidence and Supply Agreement a requirement that an expert taskforce be established. The high-level Regulatory Responsibility Taskforce, chaired by Business Roundtable consultant and former Treasury Secretary Graham Scott, revised the bill and reported back to ministers in September 2009. The bill now before the house is in all material respects the bill produced by the taskforce.
 
In its 19 May 2011 budget statement the government noted its intention to give careful consideration to the bill as well as the bill to legislate a spending cap.
 
Key features of the bill
 
The bill creates mechanisms to screen out bad regulation which offends against common law constitutional principles.  It sets out seven principles for good regulation; requires certification by chief executives and ministers against them; allows a government override in cases of necessity; and empowers courts to declare regulations to be incompatible with the principles.
 
Significance

While the bill would not solve all our problems in this area it would introduce some badly needed constraints into the legislative process, without interfering with the sovereignty of parliament. If enacted, the statute could be comparable in importance to New Zealand’s other ‘economic constitutions’, the Reserve Bank Act and the Fiscal Responsibility Act (now part of the Public Finance Act). 
 
Business Roundtable initiatives
 
We are currently undertaking a number of initiatives aimed at strengthening support for the bill and promoting public understanding of its significance.  More to come….

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Articles
Opposition to Regulatory Bill Utterly Predictable
 

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Submissions
Submission on the Regulatory Standards Bill