Our Regulatory Stewardship Strategy 2017

1 Our Regulatory Stewardship Strategy 2017 This document may be cited as: Ministry for the Environment. 2017 . Our Regulatory Stewardship Strategy 2017 . Wellington: Ministry for the Environment. Published in July 2017 by the Ministry for the Environment Manat M Te Taiao PO Box 10362, Wellington 6143, New Zealand ISBN: 978-1-98-852512-9 Publication number: ME 1320 Crown copyright New Zealand 2017 This document is available on the Ministry for the Environment website: Our Regulatory Stewardship Strategy 2017 3 Contents Introduction 5 1 What is Regulatory Stewardship 6 2 Roles in the environmental management system 7 Role of the Ministry for the Environment 7 Role of others in the environmental management system 7 Why environmental regulation matters 8 Environmental management system 9 3 The Ministry for the Environment s Strategy for managing our Regulatory systems 11 Our strategic direction 11 How do we determine our Regulatory priorities?

2 11 Robust analysis and implementation support for changes to Regulatory systems 12 4 Monitoring, review and reporting 14 Monitoring 14 Implementation and compliance 16 5 General Acts and priorities for 2017 18 18 Acts not part of our Regulatory systems 18 Priorities and reviews for 2017 18 19 6 Regulatory systems 22 Assessment approach 22 Assessment findings across systems 23 Regulatory systems: Descriptions, assessments and planned activity 26 Appendix A Regulatory systems against common agency criteria 41 Appendix B Ministry for the Environment Regulatory systems map 43 Appendix C Ministry for the Environment assessment methodology Questions grouped by common agency criteria 45 Appendix D: Government expectations for good Regulatory practice: Part B: Expectations for Regulatory Stewardship by government agencies 47 4 Our Regulatory Stewardship Strategy 2017 Table Table 1: Ministry for the Environment s national direction priorities for 2017 /18 20 Figures Figure 1: Environmental management system 9 Figure 2.

3 What success looks like in the environmental management system domains in 2045 10 Figure 3: Our strategic direction: Ministry for the Environment s long-term outcomes and strategic priorities 11 Figure 4: Ministry for the Environment s Regulatory impact analysis process 13 Our Regulatory Stewardship Strategy 2017 5 Introduction The Ministry for the Environment s purpose is that We make Aotearoa New Zealand the most liveable place in the world. Our job is to make sure our environment supports New Zealand s prosperity cultural, social and economic without compromising it for future generations. We are stewards for the environment, so that we continue to have a prosperous Aotearoa New Zealand, now and in the future.

4 Typically the full implications of the choices we make only become clear generations later, so being a good steward means we need to take a long-term view. Natural resources are a key enabler and contributor to the Government s growth agenda, and to our economic prosperity. As a resource-based economy with an environmental-based brand, our task is to ensure New Zealanders manage and invest in our resources carefully to support long-term prosperity. Ultimately the trends we see in our environment reflect the sum of the choices all New Zealanders make every day. They reflect a collective impact, and will require a collective response. To be successful we must work together with a range of partners M ori / iwi, businesses, environmental groups, local and central government, research institutions, and the general public to find answers that work for everyone.

5 We need to remove barriers for people to be involved, and provide the evidence people need to make more informed choices and good decisions. On the Regulatory front, we are continuing to work with other agencies, to develop an approach for measuring and driving improvements in the effectiveness of our systems. This year s Strategy represents another step along that path, with in-depth assessments of our Regulatory systems and a set of high-level criteria that are common across government. Our assessments have told us that expectations are rising, tensions between overlapping goals are growing, and demands for collaborative approaches that support a long-term sustainable view are here to stay.

6 We need to: grow further our ability to understand the system we are stewards of, including improving the available data and how we use it and communicate it understand and leverage the connections between all the instruments we and others have available, and the ecosystems that we are managing, with a long-term perspective manage our own resources, with our partners at all levels of government and outside it, to ensure we undertake the right reviews at the right time in the right way, and implement them effectively and efficiently. This is a challenge and an opportunity for all New Zealanders and the choices they make every day. 6 Our Regulatory Stewardship Strategy 2017 1 What is Regulatory Stewardship Under the State Sector Act 1988,1 the Ministry for the Environment has Regulatory Stewardship responsibilities for the legislation it administers.

7 A good Regulatory steward ensures regulation is, and will remain, fit for purpose over time. In 2015, the Government asked seven of the main Regulatory agencies2 to publish annual assessments of the current state of their Regulatory systems, plans for amendments to regulation and new regulation, and their views of important emerging issues for regulation. This second annual Regulatory Stewardship Strategy is our evolving response to the Government s request. It covers how we develop and maintain the Regulatory systems for which we are responsible, including both longer-term perspectives and day-to-day support of our Regulatory partners the Environmental Protection Authority and local authorities.

8 Common definitions across agencies A Regulatory system is a set of formal and informal rules, norms and sanctions, and designated actors, actions and practices that work together to shape people's behaviour or interactions in pursuit of a broad goal or outcome. A regulated party is a person or organisation that is subject to behavioural expectations, obligations and/or sanctions within a Regulatory system. A Regulatory agency is any agency (other than courts, tribunals and other independent appeal bodies) that has one or more of the following responsibilities for the whole or part of a Regulatory system: monitoring, evaluation, performance reporting, policy advice, policy and operational design, implementation, administration, information provision, standard-setting, licensing and approvals, or compliance and enforcement.

9 1 Section 32, as amended in 2013. 2 Ministry for the Environment, along with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment; Ministry of Primary Industrie s; Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Justice and the Department of Internal Affairs and Department of Inland Revenue. Our Regulatory Stewardship Strategy 2017 7 2 Roles in the environmental management system Role of the Ministry for the Environment The Ministry for the Environment s purpose is that We make Aotearoa New Zealand the most liveable place in the world . We are stewards for the environment, so that we continue to have a prosperous Aotearoa New Zealand, now and in the future.

10 We are the Government s primary adviser on how human interactions and uses impact on the environment, both nationally and internationally. We set policy on how the New Zealand environment is managed. We advise the Government on the system of institutions, laws, regulations, policies and economic incentives that form the framework for environmental management, as well as monitoring the performance of the system. We lead cross-government activity on climate change, and are supported by many other government agencies. We also coordinate national and international reporting on greenhouse gas emissions, removals and projections. We work within international forums to promote action on important international environmental issues.