NZLS comments on Regulatory Standards Bil
If enacted, the Regulatory Standards Bill would be of constitutional significance and occupy the space in New Zealand's "unwritten constitution" alongside the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, the New Zealand Law Society (NZLS) says.
In its submission on the bill to Parliament's commerce committee, NZLS says the bill would partially supersede and expand the Bill of Rights Act.
"The proposed bill, if enacted, will be of constitutional significance. It will enshrine a set of standards that all New Zealand legislation must reach; it will empower courts to rule upon whether those standards have been met; require courts to interpret legislation consistently with those standards where possible; and, where that is not possible, require them to declare that the legislation is inconsistent. It will require all public entities to use best endeavours to review the legislation that each administers, for consistency with those standards," the submission says.
NZLS says there should be careful consultation and evaluation of the issues concerned, consideration of the effectiveness of any relevant existing legislation and common law and other options, and whether the bill is the most effective, efficient and proportionate response to the issue concerned.
NZLS acknowledges that its members will hold a range of views both as to the premises on which the bill is based and as to its likely efficacy, "as will society at large". Its submission therefore does not express a view as to the merits of the proposed bill, but aims to assist the committee by analysing its nature and scope and its interaction with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.
The proposed bill adopts the form and structure, and some of the text, of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. That Act applies not just to laws, but also "to acts done" by the three branches of government and by persons or bodies who perform a public function.
"The New Zealand Constitution is sometimes described as standing on three pillars: the Constitution Act 1986 defining the institutions and powers of the state, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act defining the rights of citizens, and the Treaty of Waitangi as the foundational instrument that factilitated the constitution," NZLS says.
"That being so, and because the proposed Regulatory Standards Act would affirm rights and constitutional principles, it too would have a claim to being a constitutional pillar."