Section 3: Our requirements

3.1 Service required

The Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs wishes to approve an external dispute resolution scheme as the approved scheme as part of the new grocery industry regulatory regime established under the Act.

The approved scheme will provide an accessible, efficient, flexible and relatively informal alternative to the court process. It also will need to provide for both consensual resolution of disputes in the form of settlement agreements and adjudication or determination of disputes in the form of binding decisions.

To suit the needs of the users, the approved scheme will need to provide timely resolution of disputes. In particular, applicants should demonstrate their confidence in being able to provide a scheme that is generally or routinely able to resolve disputes within 25 working days after a dispute is referred to the scheme (refer to the requirement in clause 14(2)(i) of Schedule 2 of the Act).

The provider of the approved scheme will need to be able to work with grocery suppliers and wholesale customers nationwide to ensure that their disputes with regulated grocery retailers are quickly and effectively resolved.

The provider will be able to provide, or access, tikanga based dispute resolution services when requested.

The approved scheme must work well alongside the Commerce Commission (and Grocery Commissioner), which is the grocery industry regulator. In particular, this is expected to involve:

• appropriate sharing of information, either about specific disputes or disputes generally, that will better enable the Commission to best perform its functions, and vice versa
• processes to appropriately refer disputes or concerns received by the Commission to the approved scheme for consideration, and vice versa.

3.2 Application requirements

In preparing an application, the applicant should:

• demonstrate their understanding of, and ability to meet, the requirements for providing an approved scheme, as set out in Subpart 5 of Part 4 and Schedule 2 of the the Act
• demonstrate their understanding of, and commitment and approach to achieving, best practice in providing dispute resolution services and meeting the purpose of the dispute resolution scheme stated in clause 1 of Schedule 2 of the Act. Best practice should be informed, and clearly demonstrated for the proposed dispute resolution scheme, by referencing the New Zealand Government Centre for Dispute Resolution’s Aotearoa best practice dispute resolution framework (the Framework) [7], in particular each of the Framework’s:
  • 5 best practice dispute resolution principles [8], and
  • 9 best practice dispute resolution standards.

• indicate how they would evaluate the approved scheme on an ongoing basis to ensure it is providing a best practice dispute resolution service over time
• demonstrate their capability to quickly implement and deliver an approved scheme that will provide an effective and efficient dispute resolution service to grocery suppliers and wholesale operaters spread across the country, including by:
  • describing their experience in providing dispute resolution services, and demonstrating a good record of accomplishment in the implementation, operation and management of external dispute resolution schemes
  • indicating that they have, or how they would quickly gain, sufficient knowledge of the grocery industry to deliver an approved scheme
  • demonstrating that they are able to provide, or access, tikanga based dispute resolution services, and understand the principles/articles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and how they apply to dispute resolution
  • demonstrating that they have, or are able to quickly obtain, the necessary funding, infrastructure and personnel to provide the capability and capacity to quickly establish, implement and operate an approved scheme that will provide grocery suppliers and wholesale customers spread across the country with an effective and efficient dispute resolution service
  • indicating how long it would take to establish and implement an approved scheme capable of providing a nationwide dispute resolution service to grocery suppliers and wholesale customers.

• describe the proposed governance and management structures for an approved scheme, and provide biographical information on persons that would be involved in the governance and senior management of the scheme, indicating their experience and skills in establishing, implementing and operating dispute resolution services
• indicate how they would monitor, measure and report on the approved scheme’s performance, including reporting on thematic and systemic issues identified
• indicate how they would promote knowledge of, and accessibility to, the approved scheme
• indicate a commitment to closely liaise with the Commerce Commission and Grocery Commissioner to establish a good working relationship that is mutually beneficial
• describe the proposed funding model (including assumptions) that would be used for recovering the costs (including no more than a reasonable profit for the provider of the scheme) for an approved scheme and whether the funding model (and any changes to it) would be consulted on with stakeholders (and if so, how) to ensure it is fair and appropriate relative to the cost of delivering dispute resolution services
• ensure that the application addresses each of the mandatory considerations in clause 5 of Schedule 2 of the Act which the Minister must have regard to when considering an application for approval (excluding the considerations in clause 5(b), (h) and (i))
• include their proposed draft rules and show how they comply with each of the requirements in clause 14 of Schedule 2 of the Act. Refer to section 3.3, below.

3.3 Application should include proposed draft rules

1. The applicant must submit with their application the proposed draft rules that the provider of the approved scheme intends to issue if the proposed dispute resolution scheme is approved.
2. The proposed draft rules must comply with clause 14 of Schedule 2 of the Act, and the applicant should show in their application how the rules comply.
3. Please ensure that the application contains the contact details for a person who can answer any follow-up questions we may have.

Footnotes

[7] The Framework is available at:

Aotearoa best practice dispute resolution framework (the Framework) 

[8] These are the same principles referred to in the purpose statement in clause 1 of Schedule 2 of the Act.