Recommendations
78. It is recommended that the Committee:
Background
1. Note that a companion paper entitled "Quality Regulation Review: Final Report" outlining policy and other non-legislative solutions to regulatory burdens to economic transformation identified by the Review should be read in conjunction with this paper.
2. Note that on 30 April 2007 Cabinet confirmed the "Quality Regulation Review – First Tranche of Legislative Amendments" that set out the first set of proposed legislative amendments for inclusion in a possible Omnibus Bill [CAB Min (07) 14/1].
3. Note Annex 1 to this paper which lists the First Tranche of Legislative Amendments agreed to by Cabinet on 30 April 2007 [CAB Min (07) 14/1].
4. Note that on 23 April 2007 Cabinet Business Committee noted that further proposals are expected to be developed prior to the final Review Report as solutions to issues identified to date are developed by departments [CBC Min (07) 8/23].
Resolving Administrative Errors for Commercial Fishers
5. Agree to amend the Fisheries Act 1996 to provide ability for fishers to make a request to the CEO of Mfish for catch balancing relief and a set of criteria that must be met before before such a request can be approved.
Removing Duplicated Penalty Regimes for Commercial Fishers
6. Agree to revoke sections 18 and 19 of the MAF Restructuring Act 1995 to fully realise the intent of the penalty regime put in place by the
Fisheries Act 1996.
Concessions to Business Operators on the Conservation Estate
7. Agree to amend the Conservation Act 1996 to extend the limit on term duration for non-notified permits and licences from 5 to 10 years, with a Ministerial discretion retained to publicly notify if, having regard to the effects of the permit or licence, the Minister considers it appropriate to do so.
8. Agree to amend the Conservation Act to clarify that the Minister of Conservation must refuse to consider applications outside a tender (or other process) initiated by the Minister under s17ZG(2) of the Conservation Act.
Proposal to amend the Marine Mammals Protection Regulations 1992
9. Agree to amend regulation 12(4) Marine Mammals Protection Regulations 1992 and make any necessary consequential amendments to those Regulations so that an applicant for permit renewal is not required to advertise its intention to do so if the proposed renewal of permit involves conditions and terms that are not substantially different from those in the expired permit.
Health and Safety in Employment (Pressure Equipment, Cranes and Passenger Ropeways) Regulations 1999 (PECPR Regulations) Amendments
10. Agree to amend Schedule 2 of the Health and Safety in Employment (Pressure Equipment, Cranes and Passenger Ropeways) Regulations 1999, specifically to replace the reference to the Dangerous Goods (Class 2 – gases) Regulations 1980 with a reference to the Hazardous Substances (Compressed Gas) Regulations 2004; and exclude low hazard aerosols and cartridges.
Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act 1996 Amendments
11. Agree to amend the HSNO Act to provide greater flexibility for the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) to delegate its decision-making powers by removing the specific limitation on the delegation on "decision-making powers" in s19(1)(b) while retaining the specific delegations listed in s19(2) in their current form.
12. Agree to amend:
- the HSNO Act to enable the rapid assessment of applications to import into containment, develop in containment, field-test in containment, and conditionally release low-risk non-genetically modified new organisms, including the ability to delegate these rapid assessments (consistent with existing rapid assessments), and provision or development of the appropriate criteria for rapid assessment; and
- section 53 of the Act to give ERMA the discretion to publicly notify any application to field-test a non-genetically modified new organism and to not be required to notify an application to conditionally release a non-genetically modified new organism, when that application has been rapidly assessed.
13. Agree to amend section 53 of the HSNO Act to give ERMA the discretion to publicly notify those hazardous substances applications under section 28 that do not otherwise quality for rapid assessment under section 28A, and the ability under section 19(2) to delegate those applications that are not publicly notified (or rapidly assessed) to its Chief Executive.
14. Agree that the HSNO Act be amended to give test certifers the discretion to issue a location test certification on a provisional basis until full compliance with HSNO requirements is achieved, where they consider the non-compliance to be minor or technical, and to provide for the appropriate matters to be addressed in a provisional certificate.
15. Agree that section 82A of the HSNO Act be amended so that the purposes for which an approved person may search the register of test certificates issued by test certifiers under the Act include for emergency and response planning purposes.
16. Agree that the HSNO Act be amended to enable joint consideration of common changes to Part V hazardous substance approvals and group standard approvals established under Part 6A, including the option of adapting the group standard amendment process to the Part V reassessment process, as appropriate to the extent of the change.
17. Agree to amend Part 6A of the HSNO Act to enable minor or technical amendments to group standards in a manner equivalent to section 67A, which allows ERMA on its own motion to amend a Part V approval given by it if it considers that the alternation is minor in effect or corrects a minor or technical error.
18. Agree to amend section 97A of HSNO Act to enable the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to use the cost recover provisions of the
Biosecurity Act, including cost options, levies and regulations.
19. Agree to amend the HSNO Act to remove the additional reporting requirements in sections 147(3) and s148(b), which involved significant repetition of information already provided elsewhere in ERMA's Statement of Intent and Annual Monitoring Report.
20. Agree to amend section 82C of the HSNO Act to extend ERMA's power to revoke test certificates to all test certificates and extend the grounds for revocation to include where the criteria for which the certificate was issued are no longer met by the holder of the test certificate.
21. Agree to amend the HSNO Act to improve consistency between between the
HSNO Act and the Health and Safety in Employment (HSE) Act in regard to the statutory timeframe within which information in relation to an offence involving a hazardous substance offence can be laid; i.e. by making the time 6 months from when the offence became known and enabling the District Court to grant an extension in the case of exceptional circumstances, consistent with the provisions in the
HSE Act.
22. Agree to amend the HSNO Act to change the time for offences involving new organisms to 2 years from the time "when the matter of the information arose", consistent with the
Biosecurity Act.
Revoking Outdated Health and Health Related Regulations
23. Agree to revoke the following outdated health regulations:
23.1 Chiropractors Orders 2002 and 2003;
23.2 Medicines (Deferral of Expiry of part 7A) Order 2003;
23.3 Medical Practitioners Amendment Act Commencement Order 1996 (SR 1996/115);
23.4 Practicing Opticians Notice 1955;
23.5 The Noxious Substances Notices 1958 (SR 1958/83) and 1959 (SR 1959/84);
23.6 Mental Hospitals Road Traffic Bylaws 1960;
23.7 Porirua Hospital Traffic Bylaws 1969;
Further Work
24. Invite the Minister of Commerce to issue drafting instructions to the Parliamentary Counsel Office to give effect to the above decisions, notwithstanding the absence of a legislative vehicle on the 2008 Legislation Programme at this time;
25. Agree that this paper be publicly released on the website of the Ministry of Economic Development, subject to any appropriate withholdings that may be required in accordance with the
Official Information Act 1982, including the removal of any legally privileged advice.
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