WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/W/294 
28 October 2008 
 (08-5233) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
THE REGULATORS’ FORUM:  A NEW ZEALAND EXAMPLE OF  
DOMESTIC REGULATORY COORDINATION 
 
Submission by New Zealand
 
  
 The following communication, dated 24 October 2008, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegation of New Zealand
. 
 
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I. INTRODUCTION 
1. In the Fourth Triennial Review, the Comm ittee agreed to share experiences of the 
establishment of domestic administrative mechan isms to facilitate coope ration and coordination 
between competent authorities and coor dination with other stakeholders.  
2. This paper outlines New Zealand’s experience with establishing a new model for regulatory 
coordination, the Regulators’ Forum. The aim of the Forum is to provide continual cooperation and 
coordination between regulators and with the sta ndards and conformance infrastructure bodies. The 
guiding objective is to promote better alignment and coordination across regulators, policy makers, 
and infrastructure bodies with a view to establishing a whole-of-government approach to achieving good regulatory practice. 
II. BACKGROUND 
3. In 2007, the Ministry of Economic Developm ent completed a review of New Zealand’s 
standards and conformance infrast ructure. The review found that, while the infrastructure was 
fundamentally sound, there were challeng es that needed to be addressed, including: 
- The growing complexity of regulation for firms, regulators and infrastructure bodies;   
 
- The presence of different levels of awar eness and understanding among regulators of the 
standards and conformity assessment infrastructur e as a tool to support quality regulations, 
risk management, compliance and enforcem ent activities and trade facilitation; and  
 
- The need to enhance regulators’ understa nding of their trade facilitation role and 
international obligations.  
 4. Overcoming these challenges required a stra tegy to improve awareness regarding 
international linkages, and to promote cooperation and alignment between regulatory agencies and 
infrastructure bodies. G/TBT/W/294 
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  5. In December 2007, the New Zealand Government approved the establishment of the Forum, 
noting that the Forum will be instrumental in promoting better alignmen t and coordination across 
regulators and government agencies with a view to  establishing a whole-of-government approach to 
achieving good regulatory practice. The Forum is b ased on similar models operating internationally, 
including in Chile and Mexico. It has met quarterly since its establishment.  
III. SCOPE AND ROLES OF THE FORUM 
6. The focus of the Forum is the interface between regulations, standards and conformity 
assessment, and compliance issues. Its key objectives are: 
- To improve knowledge and awareness of the role of the standards and conformance 
infrastructure; 
 
- To promote improved use of the standards a nd conformance infrastructure as a tool to 
support quality regulations, trade facilitation,  innovation and economic transformation; 
and 
 
- To promote better alignment and coordination between regulators and with the standards 
and conformance infrastructure bodies to maximise regulatory efficiency, including enhanced enforcement and effective trade facilitation activities. 
 
7. To meet these objectives, the Forum, which operates as a network of policy agencies, 
regulators and standards and conformance infrastructure bodies, has three key roles.  
8. Firstly, it acts as a sounding board for agencies working on issues at the interface between 
regulations and standards and conf ormance. As such, it provides the opportunity to further develop 
the capacity to think innovatively about the relati onships between regulations , compliance, standards 
and conformity assessment and the role of the va rious agencies in supporting and managing these 
relationships. This is achieved th rough debate, discussion, problem solving and information sharing 
among participants.  
9. Secondly, it has an advisory capacity by prov iding a vehicle for members to share their 
knowledge and experience of how the standards and conformance infrastructure supports quality 
regulatory frameworks and to support peer review of regulatory proposals. The aim is to ensure 
effective use of the standards and conformance in frastructure and compliance with the principles of 
Good Regulatory Practice. This will help underpin the current Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) 
regime and, over time, enhance the ability of departments and regulators to produce high quality 
Regulatory Impact Statements (RISs). 
10. Finally, the Forum can commission work in ar eas of common interest to its members. Work 
being commissioned includes the development of  tools and guidelines to help regulators and 
businesses to make better use of the standards a nd conformance infrastructure to achieve their 
objectives. 
IV. STRUCTURE OF THE FORUM 
11. The Forum operates under a two-tiered structure comprised of a Core Board and a number of 
issue specific sub-committees. The Forum is supporte d by a Secretariat, which operates out of the 
Ministry of Economic Development. The diagram be low illustrates the struct ure of the Forum (with 
currently formed sub-committees).  G/TBT/W/294 
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12. The Core Board, currently chaired by the Mini stry of Economic Development, is responsible 
for leading the agenda and the broader discussions  around specific work areas. It also commissions 
sub-committees to undertake specific work. The Co re Board consists of representatives from: 
- Government departments and agencies res ponsible for regulatory policy, regulatory 
operation, and/or general policy impacting on trade; 
 
- The standards and conformance infrastructure bodies; and 
 
- Others by invitation (e.g. academics and business). 
 13. The second tier of the Forum comprises sub-co mmittees set up to address specific issues in 
detail. These sub-committees consist of representatives from agencies with an interest in the specific 
work programme, and are responsible for undertaking more detailed and technical work as directed by 
the Core Board.  
14. The Secretariat co-ordinates and supports the wo rk of the Core Board and the sub-committees 
through: 
- Undertaking research and producing pape rs for discussion where appropriate; 
 - Collecting and distributing issues papers to participating and/or relevant agencies and 
organisations; and 
 - Writing reports to the Government on issues discussed at the Forum. 
 
V. CURRENT WORK PROGRAMME 
15. Members of the Core Board currently operate as a steering group in development of a 
National Standardisation and Conformity Assessment Strategy. The key objectives of the Strategy are 
to:  Figure:  Regulators' Forum  
International 
obligations   Metrology
Related 
Issues  Standards 
Related 
Issues  Sub-Committees  Core Board
Conformity 
Assessment SecretariatOther Invited G/TBT/W/294 
Page 4  
 
  - Identify opportunities for New Z ealand to extract greater value from standardisation and 
conformity assessment, both domestical ly and internationally; and 
 
- Identify and address barriers to standardi sation and the use of the standards and 
conformance infrastructure to support regulat ory, trade, productivity, and innovation 
systems. 
 16. The Strategy will be developed through a number of separate but interlinked work streams. It 
is anticipated that the Strategy will be finalised in 2010.   
17. In addition, the four sub-committees each have their own work programme. 
18. The focus of the  Standards Related Issues sub-committee is on  exploring the linkages and 
tensions that exist between the constitutional, regulatory and standards systems. The objective is to 
clarify the ‘rules of the game’ for those who d esign and implement regulatory regimes so as to 
enhance the efficiency and clarity of regulatory systems as a whole. As part of this work, the sub-
committee has organised a co-hosted
1 whole-of-government workshop with the aim of achieving 
practical benefits for regulators involved in desi gning systems that use subsidiary documents which 
have their genesis in standards. The outcomes of th is workshop will feed into  the development of the 
National Standardisation and Conformity Assessment Strategy mentioned above.  
19. The objective of the  International Obligations a nd Undertakings sub-committee is to promote 
better awareness and understanding of New Zealand’s international obligations, including those set 
out in the TBT Agreement. The current work progr amme includes the identification and assessment of 
options to achieve this objective and the devel opment of operational guidance for compliance with 
international obligations.  
20. The focus of the  Metrology Related sub-committee is the  development of a national metrology 
strategy and a clear strategic framework for dealing with metrology issues. The aim is to provide a focal point to help lift the profile of metrology in New Zealand and, through that, to identify and 
address capacity and capability needs. 
21. The Conformity Assessment sub-committee was established in October 2008 at the most 
recent meeting of the Forum. The sub-committee ha s been tasked with developing an authoritative 
description of conformity assessment tools and their application; and a risk-based decision framework 
for their application in regulation. 
22. All sub-committees are required to provide progress reports to the Core Board and are 
expected to present their final outputs to the Core Board for approval and sign-off.  
VI. CONCLUSION 
23. New Zealand believes that the continual sharing of information on different models of 
regulatory cooperation can benefit all Members of  the Committee. As noted above, the Forum is 
based on successful models operating internationally, including in Chile and Mexico which have been 
discussed in the Committee
2.   
24. While still in its infancy, the Regulators’ Foru m has already shown great success in engaging 
key regulators, policy makers and the infrastruct ure bodies. Consistent and active participation, 
                                                      
1 The Standards and Regulation workshop is co-hosted by the Regulators’ Forum, the New Zealand 
Law Commission and Standards New Zealand. It will be held on 27 November 2008.  
2 G/TBT/M/39  G/TBT/W/294 
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  together with a willingness to share ideas and expe rtise, has enabled robust discussion and debate. As 
a result, a strong work programme has emerged to address key issues critical to the availability of 
better guidance and tools to support good regulator y practice which, in turn, can support the New 
Zealand Government in achieving its broader econom ic transformation, innovation and sustainability 
goals.  
 
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