Legislation online / Legislation at Auckland City Libraries
How laws are made
Proposed laws are made available in the form of bills. Not all bills become law and many are changed significantly in the law making process.
Bills have three readings in Parliament. After the first reading they go to a select committee stage for public submissions and report. They require the final assent of Parliament before they become law.
Current bills in progress can be viewed online.
Once a bill has been passed by Parliament it becomes an Act of Parliament. Acts are also known as statutes.
Acts and regulations can be searched online from the New Zealand Legislation website
Note: The website does not yet provide an official version. The printed volumes are the only official version, (which means you must have copies from them for use in court, rather than downloads from the website) . One of the objectives of the Public Access to Legislation Project is to provide an official online version of legislation, including bills.
An A-Z list of legislation currently in force (public acts, local acts, regulations etc.) is provided by the Parliamentary Counsel Office.
Rules and regulations
Statutory regulations consist of laws made by the Governor-General, Ministers of the Crown, and other government bodies. Almost all Statutory Regulations are drafted by the Parliamentary Counsel Office. The latest statutory regulations can be found at the Public Access to Legislation website. Deemed regulations are certain rules, codes, and other legislative instruments made by Ministers, officials, or departments. Unlike traditional Statutory Regulations, deemed regulations are not made by the Executive Council on the recommendation of Cabinet. The Parliamentary Counsel Office provides a table of deemed regulations made under certain Acts, like the Animal Welfare Act or Land Transport Act, and information on how to access them.
Rules and regulations free to access online include:
An index to all Acts and Regulations currently in force can be found online.
Library Resources
New Zealand Parliamentary Bills
Auckland City Libraries has a partial set of historic bills, and a complete set of current bills. Ask at the first floor enquiries desk, Central City Library for more information.
New Zealand Statutes or Acts of Parliament
A complete set of current statutes, which are annotated (updated) regularly, are available on the first floor of the central library. When statutes have been changed many times they are reprinted in a
Reprinted Statues volume. We hold a full set of current reprinted statutes on the first floor.
Also held are the Advanced Annotations, which contain the updates of statutes that have not yet appeared in bound volumes. Statutes that are no longer current are held in the Auckland Research Centre on the second floor.
Statutory Regulations - A complete print set is available on the first floor of the Central City Library.
Tables of New Zealand Acts and Ordinances and Statutory Regulations in force - This is an annual publication, which lists all Acts and Regulations in force.
Index to the New Zealand Statutes - Search for some of the old and all new statutes by subject and title.
For more information contact us by email. |
