Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
New Zealand’s Regulatory Approach Offers Lessons for Canada
Regulation | Sep 10, 2025
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Can New Zealand’s Regulatory Playbook Help Canada Cut Red Tape and Build Trust?
On August 25 2025, Gráinne Moss Chief Executive of New Zealand’s Ministry for Regulation shared a note on the agency’s progress in making regulation work better for everyone. The Ministry has a clear mandate to improve regulation across the system, reduce duplication, and build public trust. Its initiatives provide practical lessons that could benefit Canadian regulators as they work to modernize their own frameworks.
1. System Wide Approach and Leadership
Moss emphasized the Ministry’s role as a central agency taking a system wide view of regulation. The goal is to identify duplication, spot ineffective rules, and develop solutions with other agencies, businesses, and communities. Canada could explore a similar coordinating function to align efforts across federal and provincial regulators, particularly in complex areas such as housing, infrastructure, and environmental policy.
2. Shared Capability via RegRoom
One of the Ministry’s flagship achievements is RegRoom, an online learning and collaboration hub. It includes easy to use guides and training on how regulators do their work, how to use evidence in decisions, how investigations are carried out, and how the courts are involved. By building a common foundation across agencies, RegRoom reduces duplication and strengthens everyday regulatory practice.
See: Innovative Approaches to Smarter Regulation
A Canadian version could help standardize professional training for regulators and encourage stronger collaboration across jurisdictions.
3. Improving Quality With Structured Reviews
The Ministry also developed a Regulatory Review Framework and the Regulatory Quality Assessment Tool. These solutions are used to assess whether rules are clear, fair, proportionate, and future proof. The framework helps distinguish between systemic flaws and operational issues, ensuring reviews lead to meaningful improvements. Canada could integrate a similar tool into its regulatory impact assessment process to strengthen consistency and accountability.
4. Citizen Feedback and Business Input
A major innovation is the Red Tape Tipline, a portal which allows people to report regulatory issues that cause unnecessary cost or confusion. In April to June 2025, 130 tips were submitted. Every submission is reviewed, and some have already led to changes like making building permits easier for small projects and bringing scaffolding rules up to date. This shows how citizen input can lead directly to real world change. Canada could adopt a national feedback hub to capture and respond to similar issues in its own system.
5. Transparency and Reporting Outcomes
To maintain trust, the Ministry publishes quarterly reports on the issues raised, actions taken, and outcomes. Regular, transparent reporting like this, especially on the outcomes, would help Canadian regulators show accountability and demonstrate how feedback drives real improvements.
Why this matters for Canada
Canada’s economy is weighed down by complex rules and barriers between provinces that make it harder for businesses to grow. Reducing these burdens is key to improving productivity and competitiveness. New Zealand’s approach shows how innovative tools, public feedback portals, and stronger review frameworks can cut duplication and make regulation more efficient.
See: UK to Cut Regulatory Red Tape to Boost Tech and Growth
For sectors like fintech and financial services, modernizing regulation is essential.
"Clearer rules and less red tape would support access to capital, cross border growth, and faster adoption of new technologies. By modernizing its regulatory approach, Canada can lower costs for businesses, improve trade across provinces, and create a system that supports both innovation and trust."
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