The Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017 (“CCLA”) comes into force on 1 September 2017 to consolidate and update New Zealand’s law relating to contracts and sales.
While there are no substantive legal changes, the CCLA will modernise the language of the repealed statutes to either clarify Parliament’s intention or reconcile inconsistencies which have developed over time with new legislation.
From April 2016 the Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations created new workplace and residential obligations for building owners and those working with asbestos.
According to Work Safe New Zealand, asbestos is New Zealand’s number 1 killer in the workplace, accounting for 170 deaths each year from asbestos related diseases. The aim of the Regulations is to mitigate that impact by imposing amongst other things:
On 8 August 2016 the Taxation (Business Tax, Exchange of Information and Remedial Matters) Bill was introduced into Parliament. It introduces a number of business friendly changes with regard to provisional tax payments. It also strengthens the disclosure requirements for foreign trusts following the Shewan Inquiry.
The principal changes relating to foreign trusts are:
There have been recent amendments to the Residential Tenancy Act 1986 (“the Act”) which are intended to improve rental property standards and tenancy services and are now in force. The Residential Tenancies (Smoke Alarms and Insulation) Regulations 2016 set out the changes in further detail.