New Zealand will not only be small and distant from the rest of the world but also years behind if regulations do not keep up with technological change, according to a report from the New Zealand Initiative and Internet NZ.
The report outlines a few successes and many opportunities for improvement in the state of regulation facing the technology sector. It cautions against setting rigid or high regulatory barriers for small firms in small countries.
“New Zealand’s public service is one of the world’s most highly rated. But the pace of technological change means that even the best cannot keep up without a little help,” Initiative chief economist and report co-author Eric Crampton said.
He added that rules which enable innovation need to let people do things without asking permission, and to do new things which don’t fit into existing check-boxes.
“New Zealand’s anti-money laundering regime has laudable intentions,” he noted. “But it has been applied too bluntly against small, low-risk entities like iPredict. High compliance costs on small firms kill innovation.”
The report suggests that taking heed of how other countries have adopted new products and services, at least temporarily, could simplify things in New Zealand.
James Ting-Edward, from Internet NZ and a co-author of the report, said, “creative New Zealanders are taking up new options for making and sharing their work.”
“That embrace of changing technology has not been matched in our 1994 copyright law,” he added. “Our copyright system could be more flexible, enabling more innovative uses of data and content.”
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