What Acts and secondary legislation are in force
New Zealand legislation is in force unless it is repealed, revoked, or not yet in force.
On this website, the top of each legislation page notes:
if the legislation is in force
if the legislation has been repealed or revoked
if the entire legislation is not yet in force.
This website may not yet accurately show the status of agency-published legislation. You may need to check with the agency to confirm its status.
“In force” status is related to commencement status
Commencement is the time when legislation comes into force. It is possible for different provisions of an Act or secondary legislation to come into force on different dates. If legislation has commenced, in whole or in part, it will be labelled as “in force” on this website. This means that some legislation labelled as “in force” may include provisions that are not yet in force.
This website labels Acts and PCO-published secondary legislation as in force when:
for an Act, the full Act or any part of the Act has commenced on the date stated or provided for in the Act (see section 25 of the Legislation Act 2019) and it has not subsequently been repealed
for PCO-published secondary legislation, the full legislation or any part of the legislation has commenced on the date stated or provided for in the secondary legislation (see section 26 of the Legislation Act 2019) and it has not subsequently been revoked.
Agency-published legislation is labelled as in force by default. See Agency-published legislation is labelled in force by default below.
When provisions or amendments are not in force
If any provisions in an Act or PCO-published secondary legislation are in force, the legislation is labelled as “in force”, both in its data on this website and at the top of its legislation webpage. This does not mean that all provisions in the legislation are in force.
If some provisions of legislation are in force and others are not, this may or may not be noted. You need to check the specific commencement provisions for the legislation.
If legislation is labelled “not in force”, it is often because its commencement date is in the future. It may also not have a confirmed commencement date.
If amendments to legislation are not yet in force, they will not have been incorporated into the principal legislation. An alert message at the top of the legislation will note if amendments have not yet been incorporated. A link to the amendments that have not yet been incorporated will appear under the Versions tab.
Bills and Amendment Papers are not in force
Bills and Amendment Papers are proposed legislation. This means that being “in force” does not apply to them.
Finding when an Act comes into force (commences)
Most Acts include a commencement provision stating a commencement date
Since 1 January 2000 all Acts have a section that states when the Act comes into force as law (commences), usually section 2. Acts passed before this date may have a specific commencement section, or the commencement may be included in a "Title and commencement" section.
For an example of a commencement section, see section 2 of the Privacy Act 2020:
Acts can be commenced in various ways. The most common are:
on a specific date
after a set period, for example, one month after Royal assent (see the start of the Act for the date of Royal assent)
on a date to be appointed by the Governor-General by Order in Council (in which case the date will be published in a commencement order), often with a “backstop” specific date that applies if the Act is not brought into force by Order in Council sooner.
Sometimes different sections of an Act come into force at different times.
For an example of a commencement order, see the Legislation Act 2019 Commencement Order 2021.
If an Act does not say when it comes into force
If an Act does not include a commencement provision, its commencement depends on whether it passed into law before or after 1 November 1999:
Before 1 November 1999: these Acts came into force on the date of assent (see Acts Interpretation Act 1924, and Acts Interpretation Amendment Act 1986).
On and after 1 November 1999: these Acts came into force on the day after the date of assent (in accordance with section 25(2) of the Legislation Act 2019 and, previously, section 8 of the Interpretation Act 1999).
The date of assent appears at the start of the Act.
Finding commencement orders
When a commencement order is made, it is noted under the commencement section of the Act to which it relates.
You can find commencement orders for an Act via the Act’s secondary legislation tab. The title of a commencement order usually starts with the title of the Act being brought into force. It also usually includes the word "Commencement".
Some Acts are enacted with a statement that part or all of the Act will be brought into force in future, on dates to be stated in an Order in Council. The date will later be published in a commencement order.
Finding when PCO-published secondary legislation comes into force (commences)
PCO-published secondary legislation will usually contain a specific provision, or commencement clause, stating when it comes into force. Sometimes different clauses of secondary legislation come into force at different times, as noted in the commencement clause.
The most common times when secondary legislation comes into force are:
on a specific date
after a specified period (for example, on the 28th day after the date of its publication)
on the day after the date of its publication (or of its notification in the Gazette).
The very end of PCO-published secondary legislation states the date of its notification in the Gazette.
If secondary legislation does not state when it comes into force:
if made before 1 November 1999, it comes into force on the date on which it was made.
if made on or after 1 November 1999, it comes into force on the day after it was published or first made available (in accordance with section 26 of the Legislation Act 2019.
In general, the commencement date for secondary legislation made by Order in Council is at least 28 days after it was notified in the Gazette. See 7.100 – 7.103 of the Cabinet Manual.
Agency-published legislation is labelled in force by default
Agency-published legislation is automatically marked with the default status of “in-force” when it is added to this website.
Agency-published legislation that has been revoked, or superseded, or has expired will have the correct labels applied, where our software was able to identify the status. Check with the agency if you need to confirm its status.
PCO is adding more information to legislation about dates or times for commencement
For PCO-published legislation enacted or made from 2025 onwards, legislation will include specific dates for commencement where these are known. If legislation doesn’t state a date for commencement in the commencement provision, the PCO uses editorial powers to insert that date where possible. If legislation is commenced by Order in Council, the PCO will include commencement tables that set out the commencement dates as they become known.
Official versions of legislation are published under the Legislation Act 2019
All versions of legislation published by the PCO on this website are published under the Legislation Act 2019 on behalf of the Government of New Zealand.
Most of the legislation published by the PCO is published as an official version of legislation. An official version will be taken by the Courts to correctly state the law without any further proof of its accuracy. See sections 78 and 79 of the Legislation Act 2019.
Acts and PCO-published secondary legislation that display the New Zealand Coat of Arms on their front page are official. If the New Zealand Coat of Arms is not displayed, the version is not official for the purposes of section 78 and 79.
At present no agency-published legislation made available through this website is published as official versions of the relevant legislation for the purposes of section 78 and 79 of the Legislation Act 2019. For advice about the status of agency-published legislation, contact the agency responsible for administering it.
Printouts of official legislation are also official
A printout of official legislation sourced from this website is also official, whether it is printed from a webpage or PDF, or it is a commercial print ordered through this website. See section 78(2) of the Legislation Act 2019.
In rare cases there may be formatting differences in official legislation between a PDF of legislation and a legislation webpage.
Website aids including alt text are not official
Website aids and information inserted by the PCO within legislation as part of the publishing process have no legal effect. Examples include:
accessibility aids such as alt text and other machine-readable text
links between and within legislation
notes providing legislative history
publication notes
minimum legislative information.
They are provided for information only and should not be relied upon as authoritative. See section 79A of the Legislation Act 2019 for current details.