Regulatory Standards Bill Introduced to Boost Productivity and Accountability in NZ

New Zealand’s productivity and wage stagnation are set to face a legislative shake-up, as Regulation Minister David Seymour today announced the introduction of the long-anticipated Regulatory Standards Bill to Parliament. The Bill, a flagship initiative from the ACT Party under the ACT-National Coalition Agreement, aims to transform how regulations are created, evaluated, and maintained in the country.

A Response to Stagnating Productivity and Wages

Minister Seymour outlined a compelling argument linking New Zealand’s low productivity to the burden of poor regulation. He emphasized that overregulation, often politically motivated, stifles business innovation, imposes costly compliance burdens, and ultimately leads to lower wages.

“New Zealand's low wages can be blamed on low productivity, and low productivity can be blamed on poor regulation,” Seymour stated. “To raise productivity, we must allow people to spend more time on productive activities and less time on compliance.”

The Bill represents a tangible step in fulfilling the coalition’s shared objective of improving economic performance through legislative reform. It has received Cabinet approval and is scheduled to be passed into law by early next year.

Core Components of the Regulatory Standards Bill

The Regulatory Standards Bill introduces several key mechanisms to overhaul New Zealand’s regulatory landscape:

• Principles of Responsible Regulation: Establishes clear benchmarks for what constitutes good law-making. These include respect for individual liberty, clarity of rules, minimal compliance burden, and economic efficiency.

• Transparency and Evaluation: Requires a formal assessment of whether proposed or existing legislation aligns with these principles. This applies both to new laws and existing regulatory frameworks.

• Independent Regulatory Standards Board: Creates a new oversight body with the authority to evaluate and report on the consistency of regulations with the established principles. While it will not have veto power, its assessments will increase public and parliamentary scrutiny.

• Support for the Ministry for Regulation: Enhances the Ministry’s capacity to oversee and advise on the development and maintenance of regulation.

A Cultural Shift in Law-Making

Seymour was frank in addressing the political dynamics that often lead to overregulation. “If red tape is holding us back, because politicians find regulating politically rewarding, then we need to make regulating less rewarding for politicians with more sunlight on their activities,” he said.

The proposed reforms aim not only to improve the quality of regulations but to shift the incentives that drive their creation. According to Seymour, the Bill introduces accountability by exposing substandard laws to public and expert scrutiny, thereby making it politically costly to enact poor regulation.

“The law doesn’t stop politicians or their officials making bad laws, but it makes it transparent that they’re doing it,” Seymour explained. “It makes it easier for voters to identify those responsible for making bad rules.”

Economic Efficiency as a Legislative Priority

At the heart of the Bill is a drive to support growth by reducing the indirect costs imposed on businesses and individuals by excessive or poorly designed regulation. In an economy already grappling with high costs, these regulatory burdens are seen not just as inefficiencies, but as direct constraints on growth.

“In a high-cost economy, regulation isn’t neutral—it’s a tax on growth,” said Seymour. “This Government is committed to clearing the path of needless regulations by improving how laws are made.”

The ACT Party, with strong backing from its coalition partners, views the Regulatory Standards Bill as a transformative change in governance. By institutionalizing better law-making principles and embedding transparency, the Bill aims to reverse decades of regulatory bloat and help restore New Zealand’s economic dynamism.

If passed, the legislation would position New Zealand among a select group of nations with a formal mechanism to assess and enforce regulatory quality—potentially becoming a global model for principled, efficient governance.