Regulatory Responsibility Key To Quality Regulation

The Quality Regulation Review's First Milestone Report, released today, demonstrates what huge benefits await small business if the Regulatory Responsibility Bill is passed, says the Bill's promoter and ACT Leader, Rodney Hide.

"My Regulatory Responsibility Bill would help ensure that regulations are clear, transparent, and fair", Mr Hide said.

"The report recommends that duplicated or overlapping regulatory requirements need to be removed, that it needs to be easier to find out what the rules are, and easier to measure a business' compliance.

"The Regulatory Responsibility Bill requires each new law and regulation to be tested, examining why a new rule is needed, what its cost will be and whether there are unintended side effects or better alternatives.

"The test will be repeated every five years, to make sure that regulations are working as intended, and allowing regulations which have passed their ‘use by' date to be identified.

"Today's report notes the 2006 Business New Zealand-KPMG Compliance Cost survey that showed businesses see compliance costs as static or increasing.

"If my Bill is passed to Select Committee, businesspeople and the public will get to make their views heard.

"If the Government was really concerned about making it easier for small businesses to do business, they would support my Regulatory Responsibility Bill", Mr Hide said.

ENDS

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