Regulatory impact statement for new regulations regarding puberty blockers
Brooke Hart made this Official Information request to Ministry of Health
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From: Brooke Hart
Tēnā koutou,
Earlier this month, the government announced regulatory changes that will restrict prescriptions of puberty blockers to trans children. This announcement was accompanied by updated regulation published on legislation.govt.nz:
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulati...
This regulation contains a "Regulatory Impact Statement" section at the end, where it states:
> The Ministry of Health produced a regulatory impact statement on 29 July 2025 to help inform the decisions taken by the Government relating to the contents of this instrument.
>
> A copy of this regulatory impact statement can be found at—
> - https://www.health.govt.nz/information-r...
> - https://www.regulation.govt.nz/our-work/...
However, neither of the linked pages contain this regulatory impact statement.
Please provide me with a copy of the regulatory impact statement document producted by the Ministry of Health for the Medicines (Restriction on Prescribing Gonadotropin-releasing Hormone Analogues) Amendment Regulations 2025.
Please provide this document in an accessible, searchable format without a watermark.
In case of considering a refusal under section 18(d) of the OIA, I ask that you provide me with this document as soon as reasonably practicable even if it will soon be publicly available. The Ombudsman's guideline for section 18(d) notes that agencies should consider...
> Whether there is any reason why the information cannot be made available sooner. If there is no reason why it can’t be made available sooner, agencies should consider doing so.
https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/site...
Because this document was clearly meant to have been proactively released already, I am certain it will not be difficult to find or to release in full. I look forward to your swift response.
Ngā mihi,
Brooke Hart
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora Brooke
Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the
Act), received by the Ministry of Health on 28 November 2025. You
requested:
Earlier this month, the government announced regulatory changes that will
restrict prescriptions of puberty blockers to trans children. This
announcement was accompanied by updated regulation published on
legislation.govt.nz:
https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
This regulation contains a "Regulatory Impact Statement" section at the
end, where it states:
> The Ministry of Health produced a regulatory impact statement on 29 July
2025 to help inform the decisions taken by the Government relating to the
contents of this instrument.
>
> A copy of this regulatory impact statement can be found at—
> - https://www.health.govt.nz/information-r...
> -
https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
However, neither of the linked pages contain this regulatory impact
statement.
Please provide me with a copy of the regulatory impact statement document
producted by the Ministry of Health for the Medicines (Restriction on
Prescribing Gonadotropin-releasing Hormone Analogues) Amendment
Regulations 2025.
Please provide this document in an accessible, searchable format without a
watermark.
In case of considering a refusal under section 18(d) of the OIA, I ask
that you provide me with this document as soon as reasonably practicable
even if it will soon be publicly available. The Ombudsman's guideline for
section 18(d) notes that agencies should consider...
> Whether there is any reason why the information cannot be made available
sooner. If there is no reason why it can’t be made available sooner,
agencies should consider doing so.
https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
Because this document was clearly meant to have been proactively released
already, I am certain it will not be difficult to find or to release in
full. I look forward to your swift response.
The reference number for your request is H2025076260. As required under
the Act, the Ministry will endeavour to respond to your request no later
than 20 working days after the day your request was
received: [1]http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/
Please be advised that due dates for requests received on 27 November 2025
onwards will take into account the summer holiday period (25 December 2025
to 15 January 2026). Please refer to this guide for an explanation of
the [2]statutory obligations under the Official Information Act 1982.
If you have any queries related to this request, please do not hesitate to
get in touch ([3][email address]).
Ngâ mihi
OIA Services Team
Ministry of Health | Manatû Hauora
M[4]inistry of Health information releases
show quoted sections
References
Visible links
1. http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/
2. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/reso...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...
From: Brooke Hart
Tēnā koe,
I have been made aware that some of the information I requested (most of the RIS document, albeit with several parts redacted) was published on the Ministry of Health's website yesterday. It appears as part of this PDF:
https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/...
Published on this page on the Ministry's website:
https://www.health.govt.nz/information-r...
I will be complaining to the Ombudsman about the Ministry's failure to provide me with a decision on my request as soon as reasonably practicable.
Furthermore, I will remind you that a section 18(d) response is not applicable to this request, as the information I requested is the RIS document in its entirety, yet only a version with redacted information has been publicly available.
If the Ministry intends to make decisions under the OIA to withhold parts of the information within this document, then a version of it with such decisions and redactions noted should be sent to me so that I have grounds to consider complaining to the Ombudsman about these decisions to withhold information.
Given the public availability of this document, it is clear that it would be reasonably practicable for the Ministry to do this immediately, regardless of whether or not the Official Information Act considers today to be a working day. I expect to hear from you by the end of the day.
Ngā mihi,
Brooke Hart
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora,
Please find attached the response for your request for official
information.
Ngā mihi
OIA Services Team
Ministry of Health | Manatū Hauora
M[1]inistry of Health information releases
show quoted sections
References
Visible links
1. https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministr...
From: Brooke Hart
Tēnā koe,
The URL you have provided leads to an "Access denied" error page, saying "Sorry, this page is no longer available."
Therefore the information I have requested is not publicly available, as your response to my request has asserted. Please provide the RIS document to me directly, immediately.
Ngā mihi,
Brooke Hart
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora Brooke,
Apologies, the link we previously shared is no longer active because the
Regulatory Impact Statement has been separated from its original document
so it can be published as a standalone item to make it easier to find.
You can access this document directly here:
[1]Appendix-5-Regulatory-Impact-Statement-Puberty-blockers-for-young-people-with-gender-incongruence-and-gender-dysphoria-H2025063383.pdf
Apologies for any confusion this may have caused. Please let us know if
you have any difficulty accessing the updated link or if you need further
information.
Ngā mihi
OIA Services Team
Ministry of Health | Manatū Hauora
M[2]inistry of Health information releases
show quoted sections
From: Brooke Hart
Tēnā koe,
Sorry I'm a little confused. Was there meant to be an attachment to your latest email? It reads like there was, but I don't see the referenced PDF attached.
Ngā mihi,
Brooke Hart
From: OIA Requests
Kia ora Brooke,
The Regulatory Impact Statement is now publicly available. The following
link in our previous email is the direct link to the Regulatory Impact
Statement:
[1]https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/...
We have provided the link without embedding it in text, so hopefully this
version is easier for you to access. If it does not appear as a clickable
link, please copy and paste it into your browser.
Ngā mihi
OIA Services Team
Ministry of Health | Manatū Hauora
M[2]inistry of Health information releases
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Brooke Hart <[FOI #33036 email]>
Sent: Friday, 19 December 2025 11:58
To: OIA Requests <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Response to your official information act request, ref:
H2025076260 CRM:0461635
Tēnā koe,
Sorry I'm a little confused. Was there meant to be an attachment to your
latest email? It reads like there was, but I don't see the referenced PDF
attached.
Ngā mihi,
Brooke Hart
show quoted sections
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