Ref. No. DOIA 2122-1306
4 February 2022
Annie Weston
[FYI request #17982 email]
Dear Annie Weston
Thank you for your email of 17 December 2021 to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
(the Ministry), requesting the following information under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act),
regarding the White Paper
Reimagining Regulation for the Age of AI: New Zealand Pilot Project:
1) What form does the evidence-based policy project take and how does it involve or affect the
NZ public.
2) How was this project tested on the NZ public?
3) When will the governance framework be available for the NZ public to view?
4) Has NZ’s proposed therapeutic products regulator been initiated and if so what are their
deliberately broad remits?
5) What is the nature and scope of the continuing experiment?
Please find the Ministry’s response to your questions below.
The New Zealand Government has been working to develop our ethical use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
for a number of years. The project at the World Economic Forum (WEF) was primarily for New Zealand
to learn from a range of experts and to get advice on the areas of public consultation, a Centre for
Excellence and risk assessment, and to share our AI journey with WEF members.
The WEF pilot project had three main focus areas, the aims of which were to:
frame national and international conversations on regulating AI;
develop a roadmap for policymakers so they can decide whether and how to regulate AI, and;
identify innovative ways to regulate AI that can be scaled up.
While New Zealand participated in this pilot project, we do not have any commitments or standards
regarding AI that we have signed up to through the WEF. This pilot project ended in July 2021. Due to
the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the project did not progress to the stage of developing a
governance framework or public consultation on AI.
The proposed Therapeutics Products Regulator Bill (the Bill) is currently on hold, after being open for
public consultation in early 2019. The Bill received 442 submissions from industry, communities and
individuals.
New Zealand’s proposed therapeutic products regulator has not been advanced as the Government is
developing the new therapeutic products regulatory regime. This follows the ending of the Australia
New Zealand Therapeutic Products Agency (ANZTPA) project. More progress will occur as our wider
health system reforms are implemented, and more information on this process can be found on the
Ministry of Health’s website:
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/regulation-health-and-disability-
system/therapeutic-products-regulatory-regime. Should you wish to know more about this topic, or
receive regular updates, please contact the Ministry of Health directly, at
[email address].
I hope you find this information useful. However, you have the right to request a review of this response
by the Ombudsman, in accordance with section 28(3) of the Act. More information about this is
available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Chrisana Archer
Digital Policy Manager
Digital, Communications and Transformation
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