Exclusions from the Act

Some legislation is excluded from the Regulatory Standards Act (the Act). Excluded legislation does not: 

• require consistency assessments
• need to be included in the review plans required under section 17 of the Act 

Legislation may be excluded:

• by the Act. See Schedule 2, Parts 1, 2 and 3 for legislation excluded by the Act.
• by the Regulatory Standards (Excluded Legislation) Notice 2026.

Note: The Exclusions Notice 2026 has not been published yet (May 2026).

Some legislation excluded from the Act is still subject to other regulatory impact analysis requirements during the policy development process.

See Regulatory Impact Analysis requirements.

Legislation is excluded by Notice for reasons including: 

• Practicality.
• Appropriateness.

Examples include: 

• Legislation which solely prescribes forms (because it would be impractical to apply the requirements of the Act).
• An Order in Council to commence parts of an Act (because it would be impractical to apply the requirements of the Act).
• Rules of Court (because applying the requirements of the Act might be an actual or perceived inappropriate intrusion of the executive into judicial affairs). 

For more information see the summary lists under the section: What is excluded (below). This page will be updated when the exclusions notice is finalised.

If your agency identifies legislation it considers should be excluded via notice to align with existing exclusions, contact us: RMS@regulation.govt.nz

Your submission will be recorded and considered as part of the next review of the Notice. Cabinet has agreed to review the exclusions policy within the first 12-24 months of operation.

If you are still unsure whether specific legislation is excluded after reviewing the Act and Notice, you should seek advice from your agency’s legal advisers.

The Ministry for Regulation is unable to advise on the application of exclusions to individual cases.

The Regulatory Standards (Excluded Legislation) Notice 2026 

The Regulatory Standards (Excluded Legislation) Notice 2026 is currently before the House of Representatives. The Minister will most likely issue the Notice following the approval of the House ahead of 1 July 2026.

This page will be updated once the Notice is formally issued.

Until 1 July 2026 this information is subject to the approval of the House.

See the proposed Noticeopen_in_new. 

Excluded under the Act

The following list below summarises the exclusions in the Act. If there is a conflict between this summary and the Act, the Act prevails.

1. Treaty settlement Bills and Acts
2. Imprest Supply Bills or Appropriation Bills
3. Bills that are Statutes Amendment Bills under the rules and practice of the House of Representatives
4. Bills that primarily relate to the repeal or revocation of legislation identified as spent
5. Revision Bills prepared under subpart 3 of Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019
6. Bills prepared for the purposes of confirmation under subpart 3 of Part 5 of the Legislation Act 2019
7. Bills for Acts of the kind referred to in section 96(1)(b) of the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 (which relates to agreements to recognise customary marine title)
8. Bills to the extent that they contain amendments to the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 or Ngā Rohe Moana o Ngā Hapū o Ngāti Porou Act 2019
9. Any other Act that has been enacted from an excluded Bill
10. Private Acts or local Acts
11. The Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 
12. The Ngā Rohe Moana o Ngā Hapū o Ngāti Porou Act 2019
13. Acts of the kind referred to in section 96(1)(b) of the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 (which relates to agreements to recognise customary marine title)
14. Any Act to the extent that it contains amendments to other legislation [Note: This applies only to resulting ‘Amendment Acts’; Amendment Bills and resulting updated Acts are still subject to the requirements of the Act]
15. Any Act that has been repealed or is otherwise no longer in effect
16. Secondary legislation that is made under any of the following Acts:
    • a. a Treaty settlement Act
    • b.  any other Act that has been enacted from a Bill of a kind referred to in Part 1 of this schedule
    • c. a private Act or local Act
    • d. the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011
    • e. Acts of the kind referred to in section 96(1)(b) of the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 (which relates to agreements to recognise customary marine title)
    • f. Ngā Rohe Moana o Ngā Hapū o Ngāti Porou Act 2019
17. Secondary legislation that is made under the Defence Act 1990 or the Armed Forces Discipline Act 1971 or is otherwise made by the Chief of Defence Force
18. Secondary legislation that is made by the Speaker of the House of Representatives or by the House of Representatives
19. Secondary legislation that is rules of court
20. Secondary legislation that is made by any judicial officer
21. Secondary legislation that has been revoked or is otherwise no longer in effect
22. Acts, Bills, and secondary legislation, or parts thereof, excluded via Notice under this Act (see Excluded via Notice, below).

Excluded via Notice

The following list below summarises the exclusions via Notice. If there is a conflict between this summary and the Notice, the Notice prevails.

For more information, including details of the legislation to which the mixed classes apply, see the exclusions notices webpage. (This page is not published yet - May 2026).

Subject to the approval of the House, the Notice will provide for the exclusion of the following:

Bills

The Act does not apply to the following general classes of Bill:

1. Bills that amend Acts of a kind referred to in the notice: 
2. Bills that amend secondary legislation of a kind referred to in the notice:  
3. Bills that amend secondary legislation of a kind referred to in Part 3 of Schedule 2 of the Act. 

Secondary legislation

1. The Act does not apply to the following general classes of secondary legislation or proposed secondary legislation:
2. Secondary legislation made under an Act of a kind referred to in Part 2 of Schedule 2 of the Act (including those classes in the Schedules of the notice):
3. Secondary legislation that amends secondary legislation of a kind referred to in clause 4(3) of the notice: 
4. Secondary legislation that prescribes forms, or the content of forms: 
5. Secondary legislation that primarily relates to the revocation of secondary legislation identified as redundant, spent, ceased to have effect or no longer required:  
6. Secondary legislation made under the Royal prerogative:
7. Secondary legislation that implements the outcomes of trade-related negotiations or agreements with international counterparts, including market access requirements:
8. Secondary legislation (the new legislation) if all of the following apply:  
9. the new legislation, with or without modification, replaces or corresponds to, other secondary legislation that is revoked (the former legislation):
10. clause 15 of Schedule 1 of the Legislation Act 2019 (as inserted by section 58 of the Legislation Amendment Act 2026) (the new publication clause) applies to the former legislation: 
11. the new legislation is made, and the former legislation is revoked, before the publication deadline that applies to the former legislation under the new publication clause:
12. the explanatory note for the new legislation contains a statement to the effect that the new legislation replaces, or corresponds to, the revoked legislation without substantially changing its legal effect. 

Mixed classes

1. The Act does not apply to the following specified classes of legislation or proposed legislation:
2. Legislation that provides powers to respond to emergency situations, consisting of the legislation set out in Schedule 1 of the notice:
3. Legislation relating to the implementation of existing international trade agreements, consisting of the legislation set out in Schedule 2 of the notice: 
4. Legislation giving effect to specific types of bi or multilateral agreement (namely, mutual assistance in criminal matters, reciprocal social security, child support, extradition treaties, and double tax agreements), consisting of the legislation set out in Schedule 3 of the notice:  
5. Legislation updating text of an international agreement in legislation once New Zealand has accepted the changes, consisting of the legislation set out in Schedule 4 of the notice:
6. Legislation concerning constitutional matters or that requires consultation with the judiciary, consisting of the legislation set out in Schedule 5 of the notice:
7. Legislation implementing agreements between the Crown and iwi and hapū, consisting of the legislation set out in Schedule 6 of the notice: 
8. Legislation made by independent Crown entities or the Reserve Bank of New Zealand providing exemptions, consisting of the legislation set out in Schedule 7 of the notice:
9. Legislation that is administrative with negligible or no ongoing public impact (meaning interactions between public sector and/or state sector agencies, providing for how public sector agencies govern themselves, or otherwise administrative), consisting of the legislation set out in Schedule 8 of the notice.