Notifying secondary legislation

All secondary legislation drafted by the PCO is published on the New Zealand Legislation website. In addition, the making of this secondary legislation must be notified in the New Zealand Gazette (in a Notice Under the Legislation Act 2019). The Publications Unit arranges both of these.

Some secondary legislation is signed by the Governor-General and approved by the Executive Council. This approval is notified to the Publications Unit on behalf of departments by the Cabinet Office. For this secondary legislation, the responsible department or body does not need to inform the Publications Unit.

Other secondary legislation drafted by the PCO is signed by a Minister or other person or body, and not approved by the Executive Council. **This (non-Executive Council) type of secondary legislation must be notified to the Publications Unit by the responsible department or body.**

Publication times

Secondary legislation is published to the New Zealand Legislation website at 9 am on its day of notification in the Gazette, appearing on the website shortly afterwards.

The Gazette has moved to a continuous publication model. Notices can be published online at any time between 9 am and 5 pm on business working days. (Supplementary Gazettes are therefore no longer required.) The Publications Unit will coordinate publication on the NZL website with notification in the Gazette. If you require publication at a specific time of day, please discuss this with the Publications Unit.

Process for communicating secondary legislation to the Publications Unit

When non-Executive Council secondary legislation drafted by the PCO has been made, the responsible department must alert the Publications Unit by email. The email must include:

• the title of the secondary legislation

• the date signed (eg 7 March 2018)

• the name of the signatory and the form of the signature (eg PT Jones or Hon PT Jones)

• the place signed (eg Wellington)

• the intended gazetting date (eg Thursday 29 March 2018).

Please use the form Notification of non-Executive Council secondary legislation drafted by PCO (Word 32KB) and attach it to your email. Please also attach a copy of the instrument to your email.

Deadlines

The deadline for publishing secondary legislation on Thursdays (the Gazette's traditional publication day) is 5 pm on the Tuesday two days earlier.

For publication on other days, two working days' notice is required to meet Gazette deadlines.

Publications Unit contact details

Phone 04 333 1002

The Publications Unit's email address is available on the notification form—or feel free to phone for this information.

Please use these general contact details for the Publications Unit rather those of specific members of the unit to ensure your message is received if individual staff members are away.

Other Instruments

Please note that the information above applies to notification of secondary legislation drafted by the PCO only, and does not affect how departments treat other types of instrument they draft themselves and that are published in the Gazette ( more information on Other Instruments ). These types of instrument should be notified to the Gazette Office, Department of Internal Affairs by the department (see How to submit on the Gazette website).

The PCO provides links to Other Instruments through the New Zealand Legislation website, and relies on the agencies responsible for those Other Instruments to keep the links up to date. See Notifying Other Instruments to the PCO .

Obtaining proofs or copies

The Publications Unit does not supply copies of the printed secondary legislation or the Gazette Notice Under the Legislation Act 2019 to clients. To confirm that instruments have been notified in the Gazette, visit the New Zealand Gazette website.

To confirm that secondary legislation has been published on the New Zealand Legislation website, search the website using its title. If it is amendment secondary legislation, locate it using Advanced Search with Secondary legislation selected and, under Status, both/one of Secondary legislation not yet in force and Amendment secondary legislation in force_ selected as appropriate. As mentioned above, expect to find the secondary legislation online shortly after 9 am on the day of notification in the Gazette.