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Recommendations


Cabinet Paper: Quality Regulation Review - Second Milestone Report

Hon Lianne Dalziel, Minister of Commerce
[ Last Updated 2 May 2007 ]


Within this section…

42. It is recommended that the Committee:

Background

  1. 1. note that in May 2006, the Cabinet Policy Committee agreed to the scope and work programme fro a review of regulatory frameworks to ensure that the regulatory environment for business is supportive of the government's economic transformation agenda [POL Min (06) 9/13];
  2. 2. note that on 23 April 2007, the Cabinet Business Committee considered a companion paper entitled "Quality Regulation Review – First Tranche of Legislative Amendments" which provides the first set of proposals for regulatory amendments arising from the Quality Regulation Review ("the Review");

Progress

  1. 3. note that a number of regulatory issues have been raised by submitters so far, and that some of the issues have been determined by departments to be outside the scope of the Review because they relate to policy matters, rather than the implementation and administration of regulation;
  2. 4. note that progress has been made to implement a range of solutions to the issues raised by submitters to date that have not required Cabinet approval or legislative amendment;
  3. 5. invite the Minister of Labour to report to the Cabinet Economic Development Committee (EDC) by 30 June 2008 on the implementation and effectiveness of the online tool for assisting businesses with their entitlement calculations under the Holidays Act 1981, including any recommended changes to the tool;
  4. 6. invite the Minister of Labour to report to EDC by 31 July 2007 on options to improve the functioning of the employment relationship problems resolution system;
  5. 7. agree that the issues of what constitutes an invoice for GST purposes and the requirement to pay PAYE twice-monthly for employers engaged in the horticulture sector be added to the government's Tax Policy Work Programme and considered under the Generic Tax Policy Process;

Area for Further Work

  1. 8. invite Ministers to consider the work arising from the Review for their departments against the other outputs expected from their departments, to determine the relative priorities, and provide a clear message to their departments as to what should be progressed as a matter of priority prior to the completion of the Review in July 2007;
  2. 9. invite the following Ministers to report to the Ministerial Group overseeing the Review by 28 May 2007 on the following issues:
    1. 9.1 the Minister for the Environment to report on:
      1. 9.1.1 the outcome of recent enhancements to the provisions in the Resource Management Act 1991 for dealing with vexatious submissions;
      2. 9.1.2 possible simplification of the licensing requirements under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 to remove any unnecessary costs to business associated with renewing licences, and to remove any duplication of licensing requirements;
    2. 9.2 the Ministers for the Environment and Local Government to report on:
      1. 9.2.1 the adequacy of the existing disciplines on local authorities in setting charges under the Resource Management Act and the Local Government Act 2002, including charges for resource consents, development charges and annual fees;
    3. 9.3 the Ministers for the Environment and Biosecurity to report on:
      1. 9.3.1 progress on the project looking at the interface between the Biosecurity Act 1993 and the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act with respect to the importation of new organisms, recognising this project is awaiting a Court of Appeal decision on honey imports;
    4. 9.4 the Ministers of Local Government (lead), Building and Construction, Housing, Environment and Food Safety to report on:
      1. 9.4.1 whether there are any issues relating to local authorities performance of their functions that have been identified by stakeholders in the Review that will not be addressed by the current work programme, and options to address those issues, if appropriate;
      2. 9.4.2 consider whether or not these issues are a consequence of local authority capacity and capability, and how these issues might best be addressed;
    5. 9.5 the Minister of Local Government to report on the adequacy of the existing disciplines on local authorities around developing, implementing and evaluating their own regulation;
    6. 9.6 the Minister of Justice to report on:
      1. 9.6.1 options for simplifying the licence requirements for winemakers who do not sell wine for consumption on their premises;
      2. 9.6.2 whether the mechanisms for approving and issuing special licences under the Sale of Liquor Act 1989 are achieving the intended objectives; and
      3. 9.6.3 options for late licence renewal applications and for businesses to continue to trade while the renewal application is being considered;
    7. 9.7 the Minister of Justice to incorporate a review of the following issues into the Ministry of Justice's ongoing work on reviewing licensing laws:
      1. 9.7.1 removing the requirement for advertisements in the newspaper when reapplying for an on or of (premise) licence and replace this with better onsite information about what people should do if they have a complaint;
      2. 9.7.2 abolishing on and off (premise) re-licensing and general managers re-licensing;
      3. 9.7.3 extending the length of the on and off (premise) licence following the probationary period from 3 to 5 years;
    8. 9.8 the Ministers of Justice and Labour to report on resolving the inconsistencies between the Sale of Liquor Act, Holidays Act and Shop Trading Hours Act, in relation to the hours and days on which businesses may operate and the days which should be treated as statutory holidays;
    9. 9.9 the Minister of Statistics to report on:
      1. 9.9.1 ways of improving communication with businesses regarding the use and value of the information they provide, as well communicating the value of statistical information to businesses and sectors more broadly;
      2. 9.9.2 the extent to which the current suite of initiatives being undertaken by the Department of Statistics will deliver real reductions in respondent load at the firm level;
    10. 9.10 the Ministers of ACC and Revenue to report on opportunities for speeding up work to investigate, and implement where possible, initiatives to improve the coordination of data collection and data dissemination, and the sharing information on businesses (with their permission), and extend these initiatives to also include the Department of Statistics and the Companies Office;
    11. 9.11 the Ministers for Biosecurity and Food Safety to report on the progress of phasing in the updated standards for plant exports, taking into account the potential structural separation of the New Zealand Food Safety Authority from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF);
    12. 9.12 the Minister for Biosecurity to report on projects to redesign the way biosecurity import standards are set, taking into account the structural integration of Biosecurity New Zealand and MAF Quarantine Service by 1 July 2007, including reporting on the priority of addressing the lack of level 3 quarantine facilities in New Zealand for importing plant material;
  3. 10. invite the Minister of Commerce to report to the Cabinet Policy Committee with the Quality Regulation Review – Final Report, including a consolidated list of proposed solutions, by 31 July 2007;
  4. 11. note that as part of the Final Report, the Minister of Commerce intends to recommend that a report summarising the key messages heard during the sector study interviews be publicly released;
  5. 12. note that the Minister of Commerce intends to make a press statement as soon as possible on the key messages in this paper;
  6. 13. note that Ministers responsible for the paper entitled Quality Regulation Review: Resource/Building Interface Study Findings [CBC (07) 22] previously agreed by Cabinet, intend to make announcements regarding the contents of that paper as soon as possible;
  7. 14. note that the Minister of Commerce intends to publish this paper on the website of the Ministry of Economic Development as the Review's Second Milestone Report, along with the papers entitled Quality Regulation Review: Resource/Building Interface Study Findings [CBC (07) 22 refers] and Quality Regulation Review: Progress Report [CBC (07) 23 refers].

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