The Ministry for Regulation has today released its recommendations to cut red tape on products used by the agriculture and horticulture sectors.
Regulation Minister, David Seymour; Environment Minister, Penny Simmonds and Food Safety Minister, Andrew Hoggard said HSNO and ACVM products used to manage animals and plants like veterinary medicines and agrichemicals were absolutely critical for farmers and growers.
“Technological developments in these products can be the difference between surviving, or thriving,” Mr Seymour says.
“Some farmers and growers told us they had waited over five years for their applications for new products to be approved by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). That’s completely unacceptable and it’s costing the economy millions in lost productivity.
“The Government is cutting red tape to ensure farmers and growers can quickly access the high-quality products they need so we can grow the economy.
“Faster access to new products for farmers and growers will lift primary sector productivity and growth.”
The Agricultural and Horticultural Products Regulatory Review found that halving approval times for new products would be estimated to generate benefits of $272 million over 20 years for New Zealand farmers and growers.
Cabinet has accepted all 16 recommendations, including:
- Setting targets to accelerate assessments and reduce application queues;
- Increasing the use of HSNO rapid pathways, ACVM registration exemptions and self-assessments for appropriate applications;
- Reducing ACVM efficacy requirements for inhibitors to the minimum required to manage risk;
- Using international regulators’ assessments to save time;
- Exploring a strategic pathway for priority products;
- Updating EPA’s outdated risk assessment models.
Minister Simmonds said the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has already been working to improve the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) system.
“This has included looking to appoint additional staff in the hazardous substances applications area, creating a prioritisation framework for the approval queue and developing new group standards for low-risk hazardous substances,” she said.
“These are good first steps to help achieve some of the review recommendations, and I expect improvements to continue at pace.”
Minister Hoggard says the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) will be addressing review recommendations as part of a wider Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) Modernisation work programme.
“Eight out of the 13 recommendations that are applicable to MPI are already in progress or can start now,” Mr Hoggard says.
“MPI has been extremely proactive, working alongside the Ministry for Regulation to start work on the recommendations and I look forward to seeing further progress this year.”
The Review, which ran from August to December 2024, was of the approval process for new agricultural and horticultural products and was triggered by concern that additional regulatory burden on these products was worsening New Zealand’s international competitiveness, the Ministers said.
Read the Agricultural and Horticultural Products Regulatory Review Report: https://www.regulation.govt.nz/assets/Publication-Documents/Agricultural-Horticultural-Products-Regulatory-Review-full-report.pdf. All information can be found in the ‘Our publications’ section of the Ministry for Regulation’s website here: https://www.regulation.govt.nz/about-us/our-publications/.
