Improving the implementation of regulation: time for a systemic approach

Abstract

The importance of an ‘efficient and effective regulatory environment’ (Offices of the Ministers of Finance and Regulatory Reform, 2013) has never been more prominent in New Zealand than it is at the present time. The New Zealand Productivity Commission’s Regulatory Institutions and Practices report, which is both a product of and contributor to this enhanced prominence, noted that there is growing interest in regulation in New Zealand stemming from the increased importance of individual freedoms and human rights, the growing awareness of the impacts of both good and bad regulation, the way government now organises itself to provide services and implement policy, and the diversity of society and its range of attitudes to risk and expectations about government’s actions (New Zealand Productivity Commission, 2014, overview, p.1).