Legislation statements and regulation analysis

We must analyse all proposed legislation that we will administer, which includes regulations. We then advise Government and the public of what we find.

We review all changes to legislation we administer. This is to help ensure it is easy to follow, works well, is fair, and will achieve its purpose.

We provide our analysis to Cabinet using 2 document types:

  • Consistency Accountability Statements
  • Regulatory Analysis Summaries

Our analysis looks at each proposal against the principles of good law-making as defined by Government. This is as required by the Regulatory Standards Act 2025.

Regulatory Standards Act 2025 | NZ Legislation

Analysis to support decisions

Proposed legislation and Regulatory Analysis Summaries

When a new legislative change is proposed, we must complete a Regulatory Analysis Summary (RAS).

A RAS analyses the benefits, costs and risks of the change. It also provides analysis of any alternatives we have considered. 

Once complete, we provide the RAS to Cabinet to help them decide on making changes to legislation. Later we provide the RAS to and the public via our website. Cabinet then use this to decide on the new legislation.

Previously, Regulatory Impact Statements (RIS) were used for this. They have now been replaced by RAS.

Legislation and Consistency Accountability Statements

We must assess all new legislation that we will administer. We record this in a Consistency Accountability Statement (CAS).

We complete a CAS by examining the legislation against the principles set out in the Regulatory Standards Act 2025.

We outline our assessment in a Summary of Underpinning Analysis document.

If we find any inconsistencies with the principles of the Act, the Minister will explain why in a Statement of Reasons document.

We provide each CAS and our underpinning analysis to Government to support them to make decision. Later we share them with the public on our website.

Documents

See available RAS and CAS documents we have completed below.

All prior Regulatory Impact Statements (RIS) are included under the filter for RAS documents.  

You can also view our RAS documents on the Ministry for Regulation's website.

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Published: July 30, 2026

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