Regulatory Impact Statements / Business Compliance Cost Statements

Contents

• Requirements
• Advice
• Further Information
• Resources and Documents

Requirements

All policy proposals submitted to cabinet which result in government bills or statutory regulations must be accompanied by a Regulatory Impact Statement, unless an exemption applies. The Ministry's Guide to Preparing Regulatory Impact Statements and the Cabinet Step by Step Guide set out the details for this requirement.

From 1 April 2001, all policy proposals submitted to Cabinet which require a Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS), and which have compliance cost implications for business, must include a Business Compliance Cost Statement (BCCS) in the Regulatory Impact Statement. Cabinet Office Circular CO (01) 2 sets out the details of this requirement. The Ministry's Business Compliance Costs Statements: Guidelines for Departments provides more detail and a template for this requirement.

The new requirement for a BCCS will help ensure that the business compliance cost implications of regulatory proposals are made explicit and properly considered in developing policy in a consistent and comprehensive way.

Cabinet has agreed that for proposals considered after 1 April 2001, the RIS/BCCS will be published on the responsible department's website and a link to it be published on this dedicated area of the Ministry of Economic Development website.

The decision on the precise timing of publication is left to the responsible Minister and/or Cabinet. Departments must therefore ensure that the responsible Minister and/or Cabinet have agreed to the publication of the RIS/BCCS. Ministers and/or Cabinet may wish to review and amend the RIS/BCCS to ensure that it fully reflects the Government's position and is of a high standard. Some changes to the RIS/BCCS accordingly make take place after Cabinet consideration of the Cabinet submission.

Departments must ensure that they send their relevant departmental website reference for the RIS/BCCS, along with the electronic version of the RIS/BCCS, to ris-bccs@med.govt.nz once approval for publication has been given.

Published RIS/BCCS (Last updated: 3 February 2006):

• by Date
• by Government Department

Advice

The Ministry provides advice to government departments on how best to complete RISs/BCCSs.

The Ministry is required to insert a statement into the Cabinet paper indicating whether the RIS/BCCS is adequate, based on whether the level of RIS/BCCS analysis is commensurate with the magnitude of the likely impacts of the proposals. The Ministry's Process for the Business Compliance Costs Unit's Views on Adequacy of RIS/BCCSs to Be Included in Cabinet Papers and the RIS/BCCS Adequacy Checklist provide more detail on this requirement.

The Ministry also runs training sessions for departments on how to write RISs/BCCSs.

Further Information

For further information on the RIS/BCCS review process, education, training and other issues contact:

Elizabeth McDonald
Regulatory Impact Analysis Unit
Ministry of Economic Development
PO Box 1473
Wellington
Telephone: 04-470 2311

Fax: 04-471 2658
Email: ris-bccs@med.govt.nz

Resources and Documents

• Published RIS/BCCS (Last updated: 3 February 2006):
  • by Date
  • by Government Department
• Hints and Tips for Writing a Regulatory Impact Statement / Business Compliance Cost Statement (RIS/BCCS) (September 2004)
• RIS/BCCS Word Template
• Process for the Regulatory Impact Analysis Unit's Views on Adequacy of RIS/BCCSs to Be Included in Cabinet Papers (updated to March 2004)
• Business Compliance Cost Statements: Guidelines for Departments (June 2001)
• A Guide to Preparing Regulatory Impact Statements (March 1999)
• Australian examples [link to the Australian Productivity Commission website]

See Also

• The Regulatory Review
  A newsletter that shares information on best practice regulatory issues. The Regulatory Review comes out three times a year.