The only constant is change: December 2022

What laws changed recently?

To find out more about the law changes that affect your organisation, log into your ComplyWith Obligations Register and dial up some ‘clarity of change’. 

While you are in the Obligations Register you’ll see that you can create a ‘My List’ to easily access the legislation of interest to you and to feed into your law change emails. 

Law changes winding down the COVID-19 response

• On 26 November 2022, the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Extension of Act and Reduction of Powers) Amendment Act 2022 changed the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 to reflect that mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirements have been removed.
• The Epidemic Preparedness (COVID-19) Notice 2020 expired on 20 October 2022 after being in place since March 2020 and removed many temporary exceptions for COVID-19. 
• The COVID-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021 was revoked on 26 September 2022. This removed requirements for mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for the last remaining sector (health and disability workers). 

Key changes for all sectors 

• Most of the Fair Pay Agreements Act 2022 came into force on 1 December 2022. More information is in our article Cutting through the noise of Fair Pay Agreements .
• On 26 November 2022, the Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) Amendment Act 2022 extended the timeframes for complying with the healthy home standards to 1 July 2024 (for Kāinga Ora and registered community housing providers) and 1 July 2025 (for private landlords).
• On 27 October 2022, most of the Financial Sector (Climate-related Disclosures and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021 came into force requiring mandatory climate-related disclosures. 
• On 17 October 2022, the National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land 2022 came into force. Consent authorities must have regard to the NPS when considering resource consent applications, and there is a 3-year transition for local authorities to implement its requirements.
• On 10 October 2022, part of the Commerce Amendment Act 2022 came into force allowing applications to the Commerce Commission for authorisation to engage in conduct that would substantially lessen competition or enter or enforce a cartel provision. 
• The Waste Minimisation (Plastic and Related Products) Regulations 2022 came into force on 1 October 2022 banning the supply or manufacture of certain single-use and hard-to-recycle plastic items.
• A one-off Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Day was established for Monday 26 September 2022. The day is treated as a public holiday and is in addition to the other 12 public holidays. 
• On 7 September 2022, the rest of the Building (Building Products and Methods, Modular Components, and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021 came into force establishing a new framework for modular components.
• On 3 September 2022, the Resource Management (Measurement and Reporting of Water Takes) Amendment Regulations 2020 applied 15-minute recording to consented water takes of 20 litres/second or more.
• The Data and Statistics Act 2022 replaced the Statistics Act 1975 on 1 September 2022. 

Changes for the electricity industry

• On 26 November 2022, the Electricity Distribution Information Disclosure (Targeted Review Tranche 1) Amendment Determination 2022 changed the Electricity Distribution Information Disclosure Determination 2012
• On 1 November 2022, the Electricity Industry Participation Code Amendment (Real Time Pricing) 2022 came into force and changed several Parts of the Code to give effect to settling the spot market for electricity on prices determined in real time.
• On 1 October 2022, the Retailer Financial Stress Notice 2022 came into force and required certain retailers to give the Authority information in line with the Notice. 
• On 1 September 2022, most of the Electricity Industry Amendment Act 2022 came into force. Most obligations from Part 3 of the Electricity Industry Act were moved to a new Part 6A of the Code. 
• On 1 September 2022, the Electricity Industry Participation Code Amendment (Hedge Market Arrangements) 2022 came into force. Several new definitions were added to Part 1 and changes were made to Part 13 of the Code.

Changes for the gas industry

• On 1 October 2022, the Gas Distribution Services Default Price-Quality Path Determination 2022 replaced the Gas Distribution Services Default Price-Quality Path Determination 2017. 

Changes for the local government sector

• On 30 November 2022, the rest of the Resource Management Amendment Act 2020 came into force. Local authorities must now have regard to the national adaptation plan and emissions reduction plan when developing or changing plans under the Act. 
• On 20 November 2022, the Local Government (Pecuniary Interests Register) Amendment Act 2022 came into force and required local authorities to maintain a members’ pecuniary interest register. 
• On 14 November 2022, the Water Services (Drinking Water Standards for New Zealand) Regulations 2022, Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules 2022, and Aesthetic Values for Drinking Water Notice 2022 came into force.
• On 1 November 2022 the rest of the Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Freshwater) Regulations 2020 came into force. 

Changes for organisations dealing with firearms 

• On 29 November 2022, the Arms (Licence Holders’ Applications for New Licences) Amendment Act 2022 changed the Arms Act to address delays in processing licence holders’ applications for new firearms licences.
• On 15 November 2022, the Firearms Prohibition Orders Legislation Act 2022 introduced firearms prohibition orders for high-risk people. 

Changes for organisations with animals

• The Animal Welfare Amendment Act 2022 banned the export of cattle, deer, goats, and sheep by sea from 30 April 2023.

What’s coming up?

The end of 2022 will be a busy period for law changes, and there will be more law changes at the start of 2023. Below is a summary of some of the key changes coming up.

• The Electricity Industry Participation Code Amendment (Transmission Pricing Methodology) 2022, Amendment 2022 comes into force on 20 December 2022.
• Most of the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Regulations 2022 and the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Regulations (No 2) 2022 come into force on 22 December 2022. 
• The Residential Tenancies (Termination for Physical Assault by Tenant and Withdrawal Following Family Violence) Regulations 2022 come into force on 29 December 2022.
• On 1 January 2023: 
  
  • the Education (Export Education Levy) Regulations 2022 come into force
  • most of the Climate Change (Emissions Trading Scheme and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Levies) Amendment Regulations 2022 and some parts of the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Act 2020 come into force
  • the Waste Minimisation (Calculation and Payment of Waste Disposal Levy) Regulations will apply to managed or controlled fill disposal facilities: classes 3 and 4, and the Waste Minimisation (Information Requirements) Regulations 2021 will apply to operators of cleanfill facilities: class 5 and industrial monofill facilities.
• On 5 January 2023, the following come into force:
  
  • Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Freshwater) Amendment Regulations (No 2) 2022
  • Resource Management (Stock Exclusion) Amendment Regulations 2022
  • National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 Amendment No 1. 
• On 1 February 2023, the following come into force: 
  
  • National Statement on the Network of Licensed Early Childhood Services
  • Education (Early Childhood Services Network Approval) Regulations 2022 
  • certain changes from the Education and Training Amendment Act 2022 relating to early childhood.