REQUEST FOR STATUTORY AUTHORITY, REGULATORY RECORDS AND FOOD-SECURITY SAFEGUARDS

We Review the Crown Records Office
[email protected]
23 October 2026

To: Hon Andrew Hoggard and relevant government agencies

RE: REQUEST FOR STATUTORY AUTHORITY, REGULATORY RECORDS AND FOOD-SECURITY SAFEGUARDS

Dear Minister and Responsible Officials,

Following the response to OIA263 dated 22 October 2026, I request further official information concerning the statutory authority governing gene technologies and their potential effects on New Zealand food production.

This request is made under the Official Information Act 1982 and seeks existing records, decisions, approvals and legal advice, rather than the creation of new opinions.

Please provide:

Statutory authority: The legislation, provisions, delegations and regulatory instruments governing the approval, release and use of relevant gene technologies.

Responsible decision-makers: The departments, statutory bodies and authorised officials responsible for making or recommending approvals.

Food security: Existing assessments of potential effects on domestic food supply, agricultural resilience, conventional production and access to organic and non-GM food.

Scientific evidence: Risk assessments concerning pollen movement, seed dispersal, genetic persistence, cross-pollination and containment.

Existing food producers: Records identifying safeguards for farmers who elect not to use genetically modified or gene-edited material.

Certification and exports: Advice concerning organic certification, purchaser specifications, export-market restrictions and rejected agricultural products.

Liability and compensation: Existing advice concerning responsibility for testing, contamination, remediation, commercial losses and compensation.

Public consultation: Records identifying consultation undertaken with farmers, organic producers, scientists, exporters and consumers.

Ministerial statement: Any official records establishing whether the coexistence proposition referred to in OIA263 was independently assessed or adopted as government policy.

Decisions and approvals: Copies of relevant statutory decisions, approval conditions and supporting reasons, or sufficient identifying details to locate those records.

Please distinguish existing statutory powers from powers proposed in legislation that has not commenced.

If information is held by another agency, please consider transfer under section 14 and advise me accordingly.

If any part is refused, please identify the applicable statutory ground and provide the required reasons.

The purpose of this request is to establish whether the existing regulatory framework adequately addresses potential consequences for New Zealand’s food security and agricultural independence.

Yours faithfully,

Tracy Lynch
We Review the Crown Records Office