Business Compliance Costs Panel Meets

  • Paul Swain
Commerce

The members of the Ministerial Panel on Business Compliance Costs are meeting today for the first time.

The panel was appointed by the government late last year.

"Originally the panel was to be appointed this year," Commerce Minister Paul Swain said.

"But demand from business to get cracking on business compliance cost issues drove us to bring the timetable forward," he said.

"The role of the panel will be to identify the various compliance costs that affect business and to provide advice to the government on ways to reduce them.

"The government's aim is to reduce the amount of time business people spend dealing with government, so they can get on with what they do best - business.

"The panel will be the mouthpiece for business to government on priorities for compliance cost reduction.

"It is one of four key compliance cost reduction initiatives - the three others are:
1. The establishment of test panels, made up largely of business people, who will audit the likely compliance costs and assess the workability of new regulations before they are imposed;
2. The introduction of a requirement that each new legislative or regulatory proposal be accompanied by a business compliance cost statement, and that these statements be made public;
3. A review of the progress that has been made in implementing the recommendations of the Commerce Select Committee's 1998 Inquiry into compliance costs for business.

"The Business Compliance Costs Panel will report to the Minister of Finance and me by 30 June 2001," Paul Swain said.

· Chair
Alan Dunn - Managing Director/CEO of McDonald's New Zealand.
· John Albertson - Chief Executive of the Retail Merchants Association, Wellington.
· Andrew Fox - a sheep and beef farmer from North Canterbury.
· Chye Heng - Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary of Beca Group Ltd, Consulting Engineers.
· David Hoskin - Managing Director of Dave Hoskin's Carriers Ltd, Wanganui and President of the Central Road Carriers Association.
· Claire Johnston - Head of MPI Clemenger BBDO, and formerly Chief Executive of the Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce.
· Peter Mony - General Manager of Maxtel Software Ltd, Auckland.
· Clare Nolan - Manager of the Wellington City Council's Economic Development Unit.
· Vaughan Renner - Chief Executive of South Pacific Tyres Limited, a tyre manufacturing company in Upper Hutt.
· Jerry Rickman - a Managing Partner of Beattie Rickman, Chartered Accountants, Hamilton.
· Helen Samujh - a Senior Lecturer at Waikato University, who has an accountancy and economics background and experience of running a small business.

For further information on the Business Compliance Costs Panel:
www.businesscompliance.govt.nz