Legislation available on this website
You can find New Zealand legislation published on this website:
Acts: all current Acts, as-enacted versions of almost all Acts, and all consolidations of Acts since 2008
Bills and Amendment Papers: all Bills (proposed Acts) and Amendment Papers (APs, proposed amendments to Bills) from 2008 onwards
all current PCO-published secondary legislation, as-made versions of all PCO-published secondary legislation made since 2008, and all consolidations of PCO-published secondary legislation since 2008
agency-published legislation, in part.
This website includes a pilot service to provide access to agency-published legislation. The collection of agency-published legislation is not yet complete. Agency-published legislation should be viewed at its source to confirm its accuracy. See About secondary legislation and Agency-published legislation available on this website.
See also Previous versions of legislation available on this website for details of what previous versions are available, and what earlier legislation will be added to the site in the future.
How quickly is new or changed legislation published?
Timeframes for new legislation
We publish as soon as possible, within these time frames:
new Acts: within five working days of Royal assent
new PCO-published secondary legislation: the day after it was notified in the Gazette
Bills:
new Bills introduced into the House: the day after introduction
subsequent versions: the day after the printed version is made available to the House
Amendment Papers: the day after they have been circulated to Members of Parliament.
Bills, Amendment Papers, and newly-enacted Acts are published after the PCO receives notification to publish from Parliament.
Agency-published legislation: is first published by the agency on their website or in the Gazette, and then may become accessible from this website if it is successfully found and indexed by our data collection tool. See Pilot to collect and provide access to agency-published legislation.
Changed legislation: amendments are normally incorporated into legislation within 15 working days
The PCO aims to publish consolidations of Acts and PCO-published secondary legislation within 15 working days after amendments come into force. This provides a view of the current law.
All consolidations of Acts and PCO-published secondary legislation state when the amendments made to the legislation were last incorporated (the "as at" date). If an amendment is enacted but not yet reflected in a new consolidation, an alert message will appear on that legislation. We aim to make this alert message available within five working days of the publication of the amendment.
Our ability to meet these timeframes may be affected by the number or complexity of amendments.
The timeframe for updating agency-published legislation is set by its administering agency or body. Currently, very few agencies publish consolidations. While the pilot service collects agency-published legislation daily, not all agency-published legislation is currently available on this website. See Agency-published legislation available on this website for more information.
What is not available on this website
The following sources of law are not published on this website:
decisions of courts
international treaties and conventions (unless the text is set out in an Act or secondary legislation)
local authority legislation, including bylaws.
For links to other sources of legislative information in New Zealand, see Links to legislation and courts information.
Linking to this website
We welcome and encourage linking to this website. You can link freely to this website without seeking permission.
We strongly recommend that, to share legislation, you provide a link to this website, rather than publishing copies of legislation on other websites.
The advantage of linking is that you provide legislation that remains up to date and is from an authoritative source. It also avoids having legislation on websites in PDF or other formats that do not comply with the New Zealand Government Web Standards.
Note that links to PCO-published legislation are stable. Links to agency-published legislation may change as the pilot service develops.
For information on how URLs on this website are structured, see Developer API.
About the website owner
The New Zealand Legislation website is owned and maintained by the Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO).
About the PCO
The PCO is New Zealand’s law drafting and publication office, and the Government’s legislative advisor. Under Section 129 of the Legislation Act 2019, the aim of the PCO is to promote high-quality legislation that is easy to find, use, and understand.
The PCO’s role includes publishing and consolidating legislation, which is done through this website. This website is a legislation website as defined in section 5 of the Legislation Act 2019. To learn more about the PCO, see the PCO website: