Compliance Report Requires Prompt Action

Media release
11 July 2001

Compliance Report Requires Prompt Action - Business NZ

The Business Compliance Panel's report released today indicates the enormous amount of red tape that ties up NZ enterprises, says Business NZ Chief Executive Simon Carlaw.

There is nothing new in this report - complaints about the Resource Management Act, OSH, ACC, the Employment Relations Act and tax will be familiar to all business owners - but the sheer scale of the problem has been underlined, Mr Carlaw said.

"The Government is to be congratulated for researching the problem, and now needs to take prompt, significant action. Business wants to see complicated, time-wasting compliance requirements reduced as soon as possible.

"The Government will not have its final response to the report ready until December. This raises the danger that we will enter another election year with no action.

"The 1999 select committee inquiry into business compliance fell victim to the 1999 election and its recommendations came to nothing. There is a danger of this report becoming 'promise fodder' for the 2002 campaign, with no chance of implementation during an election year, and possibly ending up in the too hard basket thereafter.

"To keep the faith with NZ businesses, the Minister of Commerce should commit to a clear plan for change, with implementation under way before the end of 2001," Mr Carlaw said.

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