Policy, Law and Research

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs gives advice to the Government on matters that affect consumers when they buy goods and services.

The Ministry's Consumer Policy Group:

• examines how laws and practices affect consumers
• promotes good business practice
• provides input from a consumer's perspective into relevant programmes of other government departments
• recommends legislative changes to the Government, when necessary, to achieve a fair and informed marketplace.

We monitor industry self-regulation including codes - eg, Insurance, Banking, Direct Selling codes of practice, electricity supply contracts for retail customers.

We monitor and review different markets and legislation such as the Fair Trading, Consumer Guarantees, and Credit (Repossession) Acts.

Discussion Papers

The Ministry maintains an Index of its discussion papers on consumer policy including product safety and measurement. Full text and PDF versions are available of recent papers.  Older papers are available online as executive summaries, with the original policy paper available as a Word document to download. Recent papers can also be ordered through the Publications order form.

Research

From late 2003 to 2007, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs had a dedicated Research, Evaluation & Monitoring (REM) team.

The REM team undertook a range of projects, including:

• research – addressing existing gaps in knowledge, for example, surveying of trader/consumer attitudes and behaviour;
• evaluation – exercises aimed at assessing the outcomes of activities "purchased" by Government (eg, the effectiveness of consumer information programmes); and
• monitoring – exercises seeking to ensure that legislative programmes are properly and effectively implemented (eg, the monitoring of the operation of the Motor Vehicle Sales Act 2003).

Published research papers are available in the Research index.

For research papers relating to Energy Safety, refer to the Energy Safety website [external website].

Reports

From time to time the Ministry of Consumer Affairs produces reports on a range of consumer policy issues including legislation, product safety and measurement. Full text and PDF versions are available of recent papers.

Product Safety Law

This section contains documents relevant to the New Zealand product safety regime, including policy and legislation.

Insight - An Occasional Policy Paper Series

Insight is an occasional policy paper series published by the Ministry. The Insight series is intended to provide key opinion-makers with insights into the analysis supporting consumer policy development in New Zealand. The Ministry hopes to encourage dialogue on these issues in order to further enhance its understanding and thinking, as well as provide insights that may assist other policy agencies in their policy development.

Legislation

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs administers (ie, monitors the operation of the Act and provides policy advice to Government) the following Acts:

• Auctioneers Act 1928
• Consumer Guarantees Act 1993
• Credit (Repossession) Act 1997
• Credit (Repossession) Amendment Act 1999
• Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003, and
  Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Regulations 2004 and Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Amendment Regulations 2004
• Door to Door Sales Act 1967
• Fair Trading Act 1986
• Hire Purchase Act 1971
• Layby Sales Act 1971
• Motor Vehicle Sales Act 2003
• Unsolicited Goods and Services Act 1975
• Weights and Measures Act 1987
• Weights and Measures Amendment Act 1991

The Ministry both administers and enforces the Weights and Measures Act 1987 and Weights and Measures Amendment Act 1991.

To view the complete text of any Act we administer, visit New Zealand Legislation. There is no charge to browse the statutes and regulations available on the New Zealand legislation website.