Business regulations
Businesses must operate within the New Zealand laws and regulations governing commercial activities and practices. Here's an introduction to the key legislation, regulations and compliance requirements your business may need to know about.
New Zealand's accident compensation scheme provides personal insurance cover for work and non-work injuries. If you're an employer the law requires you to provide work-related injury cover for all your employees and a safe workplace. If you're self-employed you're responsible for providing your own personal injury cover - for both work and non-work injuries. This is an introduction to ACC and injury compensation.
Consumer laws, including the Consumer Guarantees Act, the Fair Trading Act, and the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act, exist to protect the rights of consumers from unfair, misleading or deceptive trading practices. This is an introduction to New Zealand's consumer laws.
Company law and the Companies Act, set out the rules and regulations around forming and operating a New Zealand company. The Commerce Act protects and promotes market competition. This is an introduction to these laws.
New Zealand employment laws facilitate and encourage fair and positive employment relations. Employees have legal entitlements to do with their employment agreements, holidays, privacy, wages, human rights, parental leave and other employment matters. Employers have certain responsibilities too and if you employ staff, it's important to know what these are. This is an introduction to employment and workplace law.
Business owners, employers and employees are required to maintain safe working environments. The Health and Safety in Employment Act was created to prevent employees, contractors and visitors being harmed when they're at a workplace. This is an introduction to the act.
The Privacy Act promotes and protects the privacy of individuals. It sets out 12 privacy principles that guide how personal information can be collected, used, stored and disclosed. This is an introduction to the Privacy Act and how it applies to businesses.
Business activities can impact on our natural environment. The Resource Management Act (RMA) promotes the sustainable management of our natural and physical resources. This is a basic introduction to the RMA and what it means for businesses.
Regulatory compliance is essential for most products, whether it’s safety, environmental, electromagnetic compliance or emissions. Non-compliance can slow down time to market and reduce revenue or even be seen as careless towards public safety.
This is general information about the different types of regulatory compliance requirements that apply to products manufactured, or sold or imported to New Zealand.
An organisation that does testing, inspections or issues certificates is known as a conformity assessment body. Some assessment you may be able to do yourself and others will need second or third party testing. Use this list to find New Zealand and international conformity assessment bodies and the services they provide.
Industry regulatory agencies protect the interest of consumers, promote energy efficiency and ensure safe use of gas and electricity in New Zealand. This is information on energy appliance regulators and the laws and standards of practice they govern.
The regulations affecting your business will usually depend on the type of business you're operating. It's a good idea to keep up with changes in legislation by joining your local business and industry organisations. Here are some general regulations affecting businesses.