Reserve Bank consults on publication of submissions

12 May 2016

Reserve Bank consults on publication of submissions

The Reserve Bank today started consulting about whether it should routinely publish submissions that it receives from regulated entities and other stakeholders.

The Bank does not currently publish individual submissions received in response to public consultations on proposed regulations, but instead publishes summaries of submissions alongside the final policy decisions that result from consultation.

Proposals were made as part of the recent Regulatory Stocktake for the Bank to change its current practice and instead publish the individual responses to consultations that it receives from regulated entities, unless there is good reason to withhold part or all of a submission from publication, for reasons such as commercial sensitivity. Publishing submissions is common practice for many public sector agencies in New Zealand.

The three primary Acts that the Bank administers place legal constraints on the Bank’s ability to unilaterally publish individual submissions on prudential matters, and the Bank would seek regulated entities’ consent to publishing some or all of their submissions.

The Reserve Bank is consulting on two options. They are:

• to continue with the current practice of not routinely publishing submissions; or

• to seek explicit consent from respondents to publish part or all of the individual submissions the Bank receives.

The Bank is now consulting on these options in order to get information about the implications of a change in its approach to publishing individual submissions.

The consultation closes at 5pm on 4 August 2016.

Consultation Paper: Review of the Default Option for Publication of Submissions (PDF 152KB)

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