Government agrees to regulatory advice to cut agriculture, horticulture product approval times

The Government has agreed to set targets to accelerate the assessment of new horticulture and agriculture products and reduce application queues.

If approval times for new products are halved, farmers and growers could benefit to the tune of $272 million over 20 years, a review found.

Regulation Minister David Seymour said these products were “absolutely critical” to farmers and growers, and it was “completely unacceptable” and costly to the economy that it often took long to get them approved.

“Some farmers and growers told us they had waited over five years for their applications for new products to be approved by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI),” Seymour said.

The results of a regulatory review of the approval pathways, which was launched last August, were released on Thursday.

Regulation Minister David Seymour says the products are critical for the country. Photo / Alex Burton.

The Ministry of Regulation found systems are effective in managing products’ risks to the health, trade, biosecurity, and the environment.

However, the approval pathway “does not always enable efficient and timely access”, the review found.

“The most concerning issue is that the current approval path can be time-consuming and uncertain. It is not easy to estimate how long an application stays in the EPA queue and the total length of the approval path across the two systems.

“Industry and stakeholders believe that the length and uncertainty of the approval path have caused significant impacts on industry, end-users and may exacerbate New Zealand’s competitive disadvantage.”

Access to the products is managed by two systems under the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Act 1997 and the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996.

They are administered by the MPI and the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) and regulated by New Zealand Food Safety, an MPI business unit, and the EPA.

The review said, “interface issues” across the two systems have resulted in “additional regulatory burden”. There are also “concerns around regulators’ resources, tools and engagement”, and “no strategic approach for an approval path split” across the two systems.

“There is a need to ensure regulation of agricultural and horticultural products does not add unnecessary burden on the primary industries, given New Zealand’s market characteristics, especially its competitive disadvantage.

“It is also important that regulators and policy agencies are abreast of global trends and the value of nonregulatory risk management initiatives, which could contribute to effective management of product risks. If New Zealand’s systems do not continue to be pragmatic and proportional, they may fail to support the primary industry sector.”

The review made 16 recommendations, all of which have been accepted by Cabinet.

These include introducing targets for the reduction of product queues and accelerating assessments “so that attention, resources and accountability will be focused on improving outcomes and encourage a balanced approach to risk”.

“To reduce the complexity of an approval path, we recommend agencies make the two regulatory systems easier to navigate.”

There will be increased rapid pathways for products and self-assessments for appropriate products. International regulators’ assessments will be used more to save time and resource, while agencies will explore a strategic priority pathway.

Seymour said the Government would cut red tape to ensure farmers and growers “can quickly access the high-quality products they need so we can grow the economy.

“Faster access to new products for farmers and growers will lift primary sector productivity and growth.”

Environment Minister Penny Simmonds said the EPA had already been working to improve the system for hazardous substances and new organisms.

“This has included looking to appoint additional staff in the hazardous substances applications area, creating a prioritisation framework for the approval queue and developing new group standards for low-risk hazardous substances,” Simmonds said.

“These are good first steps to help achieve some of the review recommendations, and I expect improvements to continue at pace.”

Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub Press Gallery office.