Commerce Minister welcomes Ministerial Panel on Business Compliance Costs' report

Commerce Minister Paul Swain has welcomed the release of the report from the Ministerial Panel on Business Compliance Costs and thanked them for their work.

Paul Swain said their report, which canvasses issues ranging from the Resource Management Act to ACC and workplace safety, was a clear and practical response to their brief.

“We established this panel to find out what business was saying about compliance costs and, more importantly to find out how business thought those costs could be reduced. It’s a significant piece of work, covering a lot of issues.

“It’s the Government’s turn now. An interdepartmental working group will soon start work on the recommendations and the government’s preliminary response will be released by the end of August. A finalised response will be released in early December," he said.

A substantial body of work on compliance cost reduction had already begun and the panel’s report has both contributed to, and been a catalyst for that work.

“Our aim is to reduce the amount of time business people spend dealing with government, so they can get on with what they do best – running their business,” Paul Swain said.