Making the NZ Business Number better

Small Business Minister Stuart Nash today opened up consultation on proposals to make the New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) even better for business.

“The NZBN is a globally unique identifier available to all businesses in New Zealand which will allow businesses, and government, to connect with each other in new and innovative ways,” says Mr Nash.

“We’ve been listening to the ideas of Kiwi business owners on how to increase the reliability, availability and value of the information on the NZBN register, with the aim of providing greater business transparency, and better options for protecting individual privacy.

“Among the proposed improvements is the inclusion of information routinely used in procurement and payment transactions, which means NZBN can be used to ensure greater accuracy for invoicing. This will save businesses time and money.”

The amendments suggested in the proposal focus on improving the ‘Primary Business Data’, the core business information associated with the NZBN. Many of the proposals aim to create greater clarity on what information businesses need to provide, and ensure the NZBN better supports business-to-business interactions.

“We know our small businesses owners are busy, and find it frustrating repeating their details every time they interact with a government agency – or with other organisations in the private sector – and this is exactly why these changes are so important,” says Mr Nash.

“The NZBN is making business-to-business and government-to-business interactions easier than ever before. The use of a unique identifier will also align us with key trading partners such as Australia, enabling us to better support cross-Tasman initiatives.

“I strongly encourage anyone interested and who wants to provide feedback on these proposals to do so through the MBIE website.”

The public discussion document is available here

More information about the NZBN is on the MBIE website