Regulations Review Committee Digest

Read the latest edition of the Regulations Review Committee Digest, which covers the work of New Zealand's Regulations Review Committee.

The Regulations Review Committee Digest was first published in 2004. It provides a general overview of the role and functioning of the Regulations Review Committee and synthesises its work into a single, readily accessible source.

The primary aim of the Digest is to summarise the Committee's jurisprudence concerning the nine Standing Order grounds under which it may draw regulations to the attention of the House. In addition, it summarises the Committee's jurisprudence concerning general matters regarding regulations developed in its occasional reports.

The current version of the Digest is as follows:

Dean R Knight and Edward Clark, Regulations Review Committee Digest (7th ed, New Zealand Centre for Public Law, 2020).

The Digest is available as a PDF: The Digestpdf2MB

Table of contents

• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Regulations Review Committee
• Chapter 3: Regulations, Disallowable Instruments and Other Delegated Legislation
• Chapter 4: Regulation-making Powers in Bills
• Chapter 5: General Objects and Intentions of the Act SO 327(2)(a)
• Chapter 6: Undue Trespass on Personal Rights and Liberties: SO 327(2)(b)
• Chapter 7: Unusual or Unexpected Use of the Powers: SO 327(2)(c)
• Chapter 8: Review of Decisions Impacting on Rights and Liberties: SO 327(2)(d)
• Chapter 9: Excludes the Jurisdiction of the Courts Without Authority: SO 327(2)(e)
• Chapter 10: More Suited to Parliamentary Enactment:  SO 327(2)(f)
• Chapter 11: Retrospective without Authority:  SO 327(2)(g)
• Chapter 12: Non-Compliance With Notification and Consultation Procedures: SO 327(2)(h)
• Chapter 13: Form or Purport Calls for Elucidation:  SO 327(2)(i)
• Chapter 14: Occasional Reports

Regulations Review Committee reports

As part of this project, in addition to the publication of the Digest, this site publishes a list of all the reports of the Regulations Review Committee, with links to the original reports (updated to December 2019).

• Appendix A: Inquiries into Regulations (up to 31 December 2019)
• Appendix B: Occasional Reports (up to 31 December 2019)
• Appendix C: Annual Reports (up to 31 December 2019)
• Appendix D: Changes to Standing Orders and Cabinet Manual
• Appendix E: Changes to governing legislation