Dalziel Announces Standards and Conformance Changes - Minister of Commerce Media Statement

The Labour-led government is to make improvements to New Zealand's standards and conformance infrastructure.

"A reputable and trustworthy standards and conformance infrastructure is critical to New Zealand’s economic transformation and our international competitiveness. It is pivotal in driving innovation, assisting international trade through meeting international standards and allowing overseas markets to rely on our standards, as well as allowing the government to achieve environmental, health and safety objectives without compromising growth," Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel said today.

The Standards Council, an autonomous Crown entity responsible for developing consensus-based standards in New Zealand, and the Testing Laboratory Registration Council, which provides independent accreditation of the competence of testing laboratories and inspection bodies, will both be downsized to improve and focus the governance of the organisations.

In addition, sector advisory boards will be created within Standards New Zealand, the agency charged with the overall development of standards in New Zealand. The boards will develop and manage a strategic plan for standardisation within their sectors.

Overseeing the whole standards and conformance infrastructure will be a Regulatory Forum of policy-makers, regulators, standards and conformance bodies and invited representatives to develop high-quality regulatory regimes using standards and conformance to manage risks to health, safety and the environment and facilitate trade.

The changes result from a two-year review announced by Lianne Dalziel in her keynote address to the Standards New Zealand Sponsor Forum in Wellington today.

"The review clearly indicated our standards and conformance infrastructure is fundamentally sound but that there is room for improvement. By getting the infrastructure in shape, we will be continuing to deliver on our commitment to supporting the development of quality regulatory frameworks and helping New Zealand businesses to become innovative, outward-looking, globally competitive firms,” Lianne Dalziel said.

The full report on the outcomes of the review can be found on the MED website.

Standards and conformance infrastructure review: Questions and Answers

What is standards and conformance?

Standards and conformance is a complex and often unseen area of the economy. Standards are published documents that set out agreed specifications for products, processes, performance or services. Conformance is the process of judging whether a particular product, process or service meets a standard or complies with a regulatory requirement.

What is the standards and conformance infrastructure?

For the purposes of the review, the standards and conformance infrastructure includes:

• Standards New Zealand, the operating arm of the Standards Council  – the main body developing consensus-based standards in New Zealand;
• International Accreditation New Zealand, the operating arm of the Testing Laboratory Registration Council - provides third-party accreditation on the competence of testing laboratories and inspection bodies;
• The Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) – provides third-party accreditation on the competence of certification and inspection bodies;
• Measurement Standards Laboratory – provides for the use of uniform units of measurement of physical quantities; and
• Measurement and Product Safety Service – has responsibility for legal trade measurement.

Why is standards and conformance important?

Standards and conformance impacts on all aspects of the economy and play a pivotal role in:

• driving innovation in firms by facilitating the diffusion of technology and encouraging the development of economies of scale;
• ensuring that New Zealand firms are in a position to participate in the international economy, especially in global value chains;
• ensuring that New Zealand products can be exported successfully to overseas markets, especially through a greater use of international standards; and
• allowing the government to achieve its environmental, health and safety objectives without unduly compromising growth.

The infrastructure is used by:

• the government to achieve sound regulation;
• industries and firms to improve to improve the quality of their management processes, to promote innovation and to gain access to export markets; and
• consumers by providing an assurance on the quality and safety of the products and services they purchase.

What are the aims of the standards and conformance infrastructure review?

The aims are to:

• evaluate New Zealand's standards and conformance infrastructure against New Zealand's specific requirements and international trends and emerging new models;
• evaluate how the standards and conformance infrastructure can contribute to and improve the competitiveness of New Zealand suppliers of products and services, in the context of improved market access, innovation and quality; and
• identify any other issues that may need to be addressed in order to enhance the contributions made by the standards and conformance infrastructure towards achieving the government's objectives.

What were the findings of the standards and conformance infrastructure review?

The review confirmed that New Zealand’s standards and conformance infrastructure is fundamentally sound but there is room for improvement in light of new challenges facing the infrastructure, including:

• the growing complexity of regulation for firms, regulators and infrastructure bodies;
• the presence of a number of “market failures”, including coordination problems in the standards development process;
• the size of our infrastructure bodies and the breadth and depth of expertise they require; and
• the generally small size of New Zealand companies.

What are the key outcomes of the standards and conformance review?

The key outcomes of the review are:

• the size of the Standards and Testing Laboratory Registration Councils be reduced to improve the governance of the organisations, increase the cohesiveness of the boards and improve the appointment processes;
• the Standards Council be required to establish Sector Advisory Boards (SABs) which would be tasked with developing a strategic plan for standardisation within the sector for which each has responsibility;
• a Regulatory Forum be established to promote a common understanding of how standards and conformance can support quality regulation; and
• a web-based information clearing house be developed as a contact point for domestic and international standards and conformance requirements and relevant regulations for use by both domestic firms and international stakeholders.

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