Separate hairdressing regulations are set to be scrapped, with Cabinet agreeing to all four recommendations from a regulatory review into the hairdressing and barbering industry. 

The review, carried out by the Ministry for Regulation with the Ministry of Health, looked at the regulations the industry needed to follow and whether any of them were deemed to be unnecessary or holding the industry back. 

They included rules prohibiting dogs, other than guide dogs, from being inside a barber shop and a ban on staff serving their clients refreshments. 

Announcing the review in December, Minister for Regulation David Seymour said regulations were not making a practical difference to public health, but were frustrating business owners and customers. 

The review has now recommended a full revoke of the Health (Hairdressers) Regulations 1980. 

Seymour said compliance with health and safety, building regulations and general public health requirements was required already and there was no need for separate regulation from the 1980s. 

“Existing regulations aren’t making a practical difference to safety, but the compliance is frustrating and costly. We anticipate that revoking all existing regulations will save the industry a minimum of about $1 million per year,” he said. 

Seymour said the review also found that existing regulations were often applied inconsistently, with annual registration fees set by local government varying between $140 and $495, depending on location. 

Last December, David Seymour got a trim after announcing a review of hairdressing regulations. "Best hair in the coalition," he said. Photo / RNZ 

“Examples of absurd rules include how far apart salon seats should be, how bright the lights in the business are, whether you can have a ‘cuppa’ with your cut and whether dogs are allowed in salons. From the end of July now these decisions will be up to the business owner,” he said. 

The review put forward two options in revoking the existing regulations. One option was to rely on existing mechanisms in other legislation with new industry guidance. The other was to replace the current regulations with risk-based regulations, focused on health and hygiene practices. 

Ultimately, it recommended the first option, with the possibility that more targeted regulations could be introduced at a later date. 

The Ministry for Regulation will work with the Ministry of Health on hygiene, disinfection and sanitation guidance, accompanying WorkSafe’s existing guidance. 

It will also work with the Ministry of Justice to respond to concerns raised by submitters over how alcohol licensing applies to the industry. 

Once the regulations are revoked, the Ministry for Regulation will be required to report back in two years to see whether the risks were being appropriately managed by the new regime or whether new risk-based regulations should be introduced. 

The review identified some instances of harm still occurring in the industry, such as ACC claims related to non-workers, complaints to the industry body and complaints to the Commerce Commission. 

But it said the harm was low-level and existing regulations were not proportionate to the risks. 

The review was the third sector-wide regulatory review carried out by the Ministry for Regulation, following reviews into early childhood education and agricultural and horticultural products. 

-RNZ