It will report back with recommendations to be taken to Cabinet within six months on regulations that could be removed or changed.
The review will look at what "market failures or other problems" are being addressed or not, what evidence there is of regulations working or not, the costs and benefits, unintended consequences and how effectively the regulations are being managed.
It will consider primary and secondary legislation, other rules, and the role and approach of compliance and enforcement agencies, but will not assess curriculum content, individual complaints or other sectors.
Funding levels would also not be included, but Seymour - the Minister for Regulation - said this would be reviewed separately.
Large-scale regulation systems covering several sectors are also considered out of scope except where they relate to childhood education-specific components.
Seymour said concerns about affordability and availability of ECE and the complexity of its regulation had led to "urgent calls from the sector" for the review.
"Parents want to know their child is safe and well cared for, but costs and waiting lists because of burdensome rules and regulations put ECE out of reach for many," he said.
"We have heard reports from centres around the country where teachers and carers are spending their time dealing with regulators and writing reports and plans on absurd things like the risk of apples falling from a tree in the playground, the first aid certificate being hung on the right-hand side of the doorframe instead of above it, or a train driver honking the train horn at the children as the train drives past every morning to the delight of the children but the chagrin of noise pollution police."
"Clearly there is a need to assess the relevance and impact of regulation with the health, safety and wellbeing of children as the priority."
He said teachers, centre owners, caregivers, parents, government agencies, child advocacy groups, unions, research bodies, and others connected to the sector would all be involved in the review.
The ministry, set up in March, also intends to begin a second sector review before next year. It is one of four central agencies alongside Treasury, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Public Service Commission.
Act campaigned on scrapping the Productivity Commission and setting up the Ministry for Regulation in its place to review regulations.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis on Tuesday described it as a "seek and destroy" mission for burdensome red tape holding back sectors of the economy.
