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Regulations ministry clarifies cost estimate for Regulatory Standards Bill

David Seymour introduced the Regulatory Standards Bill to make rules and regulations more transparent. Photo: RNZ An estimated annual cost to government of $50-60m from the Regulatory Standards Bill is outdated, an official statement shows, but a change that revised that cost down is expected to be at least partly reversed. This week, RNZ revealed MBIE officials feared the Regulations Ministry's estimate of $50-60m a year was on the low end. That estimate was included in a draft version of the ministry's regulatory impact statement (RIS) sent out for agency consultation. The final version released in May put the expected cost at closer to $18m a year. In a statement on Friday, which included a timeline, the Regulations Ministry said the higher figure was based on an earlier version of the bill that would have required a full review of all existing laws - both primary (statutes) and secondary (regulations) - within 10 years. That proposal was later scrapped. The timeline As it stands, the bill would require all new legislation to be assessed against the "good regulation" principles - with some exceptions. It also requires ministries to regularly review the existing primary legislation they are responsible for, but does not set a specific timeframe. Existing regulations are currently exempt from review. The lack of a specific timeframe reduces the pressure on agencies to complete these reviews so quickly and excluding existing secondary legislation also significantly reduces the workload, which explains the cost reduction to about $18m. However, the current RIS also notes the minister is expected to make some secondary legislation subject to the RSB in future. "Existing secondary legislation is initially not in scope by default, with the expectation that some classes of secondary legislation will be brought in (via a Notice) at a later date." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.