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32. It is recommended that the Committee:

Quality Regulation Review

1. 1. Note that, on 25 October 2006, the Cabinet Policy Committee (POL):
   1. 1.1 directed departments to report to their relevant Review Minister on their progress in delivering on the Quality Regulation Review's (the Review) objectives;
   2. 1.2 invited the Minister of Commerce to report to Cabinet through the appropriate Cabinet committee with a consolidated list of proposed solutions by 5 February 2007;
2. 2. Note that the Minister of Commerce will submit a Second Milestone Report on the Quality Regulation Review to POL by 31 March 2007;
3. 3. Direct relevant departments, in consultation with affected parties, to consider further the issues raised during the Review in relation to:
   1. 3.1 liquor licensing regime (Ministry of Justice);
   2. 3.2 the cost of compliance with the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 (Environmental Risk Management Authority, Ministry for the Environment, and the Department of Labour);
   3. 3.3 variability in territorial authority approaches to regulation, the level of prescriptive detail in district plans and the alleged creep in coverage of plans recognising that the report back for common approaches to Resource Management Act 1991/Building Act 2004 consistent approaches is July 2007 (Department of Internal Affairs, Ministry for the Environment);
   4. 3.4 long term council community plan audit requirements (Department of Internal Affairs);
   5. 3.5 multiple audits of providers funded by the health sector (Ministry of Health);
   6. 3.6 reviewing the multiple and extensive requests for information by Statistics New Zealand and other government and non-government agencies (Statistics New Zealand);
   7. 3.7 need for improved information on:
      1. 3.7.1 regular automatic payments (Inland Revenue Department);
      2. 3.7.2 use of client overpayments (Inland Revenue Department);
      3. 3.7.3 parental and paid parental leave entitlements (Department of Labour);
   8. 3.8 report as part of the Second Milestone Report on the Quality Regulation Review with proposed solutions or a reason why maintaining the current arrangements is the best of the feasible options;
4. 4. Agree that the Quality Regulation Review Ministerial Group (comprising the Ministers of Finance, Fisheries, Agriculture and Forestry, Energy, Transport, Local Government, Labour, ACC, Communications and Building and Construction) be delegated the ability to decide whether an issue is outside the scope of the Review and that, unless the Ministerial Group rules an issue to be out of scope, departments should consider how to progress a solution;
5. 5. Note that the Second Milestone Report on the Quality Regulation Review will seek decisions on solutions to address the following new initiatives:
   1. 5.1 inconsistencies between the Consumer Credit Contracts Act 2003 and the Second Hand Dealers and Pawn Brokers Act 2004;
   2. 5.2 a lack of clarity on whether the co-regulatory arrangements under the Gas Act 1992 applies to gas used for feedstock;
   3. 5.3 confusion and excessive compliance for industry caused by both the Weights and Measures Act 1987 and Gas Act 1992 applying to liquid petroleum gas;
   4. 5.4 the difficulty that some businesses have in determining when averaging of relevant daily pay should occur under the Holidays Act 2003 and how commission payments should be treated, without undermining employees' holidays entitlements if approved by the Minister of Labour;
   5. 5.5 the prescriptive nature of the taxation legislation in relation to what constitutes an invoice for GST purposes;
   6. 5.6 the restrictive requirements in the Designs Act 1953 in relation to the payment of renewal fees;
   7. 5.7 the paperwork required for obtaining a mining permit under the Crown Minerals Act 1991.
6. 6. Note that the Second Milestone Report on the Quality Regulation Review will contain a longer list of solutions to address issues raised during the Quality Regulation Review;
7. 7. Note that Cabinet has already agreed to a number of proposals that address issues raised during the Review, and that a number of initiatives that address issues raised during the review are being implemented by Ministers and their agencies already;
8. 8. Direct the Quality Regulation Taskforce to report as part of the Second Milestone Report on the Quality Regulation Review on how a cross-government "high quality information provision" campaign might be developed;

Clarification of International Treaty Exemption from RIA Requirements

1. 9. Note that on 30 October 2006, Cabinet directed the Ministry of Economic Development to work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to clarify the international treaty exemption from the regulatory impact statement (RIS) requirements and report to POL in the Second Report for the Quality Regulation review on 31 March 2007 [CAB Min (06) 40/4C];
2. 10. Agree that the international treaty exemption from the RIS requirements be amended so that a RIS is not required where the proposal is necessary to implement a treaty for which an extended national interest analysis (NIA) (which includes RIS elements) has been prepared;
3. 11. Note that the RIS requirements would still apply to any subsequent regulatory proposals relating to actions under the treaty that were not covered by the original extended NIA; and
4. 12. Note that the Minister of Commerce indicates that consultation is not required with the government caucuses or other parties represented in Parliament.