The Ministry for Primary Industries has agreed to remove regulations controlling the dairy livestock improvement company, LIC.
The regulations were imposed on the farmer-owned company when it had a monopoly on national dairy herd testing.
LIC has also operated the core data base which included historic breeding information about dairy cattle.
LIC had asked the ministry to remove the restrictions because there was now competition in herd testing and control of the database was in the process of being shifted from LIC to Dairy NZ, where the information could be available to any company that wished to have it.
The ministry agreed to the changes after finding that the regulations imposed undue costs and limits on LIC.
It meant, for instance, LIC will no longer have to provide herd testing at uniform prices within regions, or to get ministerial consent for changes to its constitution.
But the ministry said it would consider the dairy herd improvement industry more broadly as part of a Dairy Industry Restructuring Review next year, and that may lead to new regulations.
