Pre-review

We identify sectors, industries and regulated activities for review using a transparent, risk-based approach:

Selection Criteria: Based on risk, economic impact and strategic priorities.
Stakeholder Input: Broad engagement to determine areas of concern and opportunity.
Scoping: Clear objectives, scope and outcomes for each review.

These will either be:

Directed by the Minister
Suggested by the Ministry — with topics coming from what we are hearing from regulated parties and themes coming from the Regulatory Response Team or from the Ministry’s economic analysis.

The Ministry will engage with regulated parties, the responsible policy agency and/or the regulator and pull together the following information:

A summary of the regulatory issue
Evidence of the regulatory issue
Summary of the regulatory system(s), including legislation, regulations and rules involved
Previous work done in this area
The regulated parties and other impacted stakeholders
Responsible agency
Portfolios / Ministers

There are four types of regulatory reviews:

Whole sector e.g., early childhood education sector.
Whole industry e.g., hairdressing and barbering industry.
A regulated activity e.g., AgHort product approval process.
System focus e.g., product labelling, which cuts across sectors and industries.

Regulatory reviews will:

Does it meet the threshold to be a future review?

The proposed review must meet the following criteria, which will be assessed and scored:

Regulation has been identified as a problem
Solving the regulatory problem will have an identifiable economic (or other) impact
The Ministry is the best agency to do a review, because
- of our independence
- our role as a central agency
- the area is a low priority for the responsible agency, but a high priority for the relevant industry or sector.

Factors that will be considered:

Is now a good time for this review? Are there Bills before the House? What work does the responsible agency have underway? What are stakeholders' views?
Is it aligned with Government and Ministerial priorities?
What is the size of the potential review? The aim will be to alternate between large and small reviews. Do we have the right level of resourcing to do this review now or in the near future?
What was the selection criteria score?

As part of this step, the Ministry will have a further discussion with the responsible agency to see if anything has changed.

The Minister confirms the topic via Cabinet and the Ministry drafts the Terms of Reference in consultation with relevant stakeholders.
Terms of Reference may be confirmed through Cabinet or delegated to relevant Ministers.
The Ministry may set up inter-agency senior official meetings if needed.

Download the framework summary