KEY POINTS:
Treasury is to have oversight of commercial regulation in a move aimed at achieving a more co-ordinated approach to the regulatory system.
Finance Minister Michael Cullen said the change would free up the Ministry of Economic Development (MED) to look at how to fix regulations that might be hindering growth or innovation for businesses.
"Treasury is the best choice to act as the central agency for regulatory oversight because of its focus on state sector performance and value for money, and is well-placed to assess the impact of regulation on the performance of the economy as a whole." Cullen said.
Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel said the MED would be freed up to focus on its role of advising the government on reducing the compliance burden on business.
MED would retain responsibility for assessing the cumulative impact of regulation on business, reducing business compliance costs, understanding the effect of regulation on economic growth, setting standards for regulation design, studying the impacts of regulation on business and reviewing the efficiency of regulatory regimes.
Dalziel today also announced the introduction of a new "business reporting system" that could mean annual savings of $55-$75 million.
She said the system was based on an Australian model and was designed to prevent businesses having to file the same or similar information to different government agencies.
The budget would include $7 million in funding this financial year to look at how to implement it. Detailed costs would be presented to Cabinet in December and the system should be operational by March 2011 in the first group of government agencies - the Company's Office, Inland Revenue, Statistics NZ and ACC - with others coming in later.
Small Business Minister Clayton Cosgrove said it was time wasting and costly for businesses to fill in multiple reports.
A single business number (SBN) is also being considered. A SBN would make information sharing across government easier, meaning businesses would not be asked for duplicates.
- NZPA
