New Zealand Legislation: Acts
Acts are laws made by Parliament
(1) The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, make regulations for all or any of the following purposes:
(a) Providing for the removal of any fittings or gas appliance erected or used contrary to the provisions of this Act or any regulations made under this section, and for the removal or alteration of any dangerous fittings or dangerous gas appliance, at the expense in all cases of the owner of the fittings or gas appliance:
(b) Securing the protection of persons and property from injury or damage caused through gas, either directly or indirectly, by—
(i) Authorising, controlling, and prescribing conditions in respect of, the design, construction, installation, maintenance, use, management, inspection, and testing of distribution systems or gas installations:
(ii) Authorising, controlling, and prescribing conditions in respect of, the design, installation, manufacture, maintenance, use, inspection, importation, sale, and testing of gas appliances or fittings used or intended to be used in the application of gas:
(iii) Prohibiting the manufacture, importation, sale, and use of such gas appliances and fittings as do not satisfy any prescribed tests, standards, or safety criteria:
(iv) Requiring such types or categories of gas appliances and fittings as are specified in the regulations, or as are from time to time declared by the Secretary by public notice to be subject to the regulations, to be approved by the Secretary before being offered for sale in New Zealand; providing for the giving of such approval, for the specifying by the Secretary of conditions subject to which such approval may be given, for the variation or withdrawal of any such approval, and for the revocation, variation, or addition of any condition of any such approval; and prescribing circumstances in which types or categories of gas appliances or fittings are deemed to be approved by the Secretary for the purposes of the regulations:
(v) Authorising, controlling, restricting, prescribing conditions in respect of, and, where necessary, prohibiting, the construction, installation, use, management, operation, maintenance, transportation, and movement of any structure, device, thing, or substance, whether fixed or movable and whether permanent or temporary, in the vicinity of any fittings or where any fittings may affect or be affected by the structure, device, thing, or substance:
(vi) Controlling the existence and location of the whole or any part of any tree or vegetation that is in the vicinity of, or may affect, any fittings:
(bb) prescribing requirements for safety management systems:
(bc) prescribing, for the purposes of sections 46A, 46B, and 54A, what distribution systems, gas installations, fittings, and gas appliances are deemed to be or not to be a gas supply system (or part of a gas supply system) and the circumstances and conditions in which any distribution systems, gas installations, fittings, and gas appliances are deemed to be or not to be a gas supply system (or part of a gas supply system):
(c) Prescribing standards in respect of fittings, gas appliances, gas installations, meters, and gas that are or is to be supplied to or used by gas retailers and consumers:
(d) Providing for the periodic examination of fittings and gas appliances installed in relocatable buildings or pleasure vessels, or both, and the issue of warrants of fitness by such persons or class or classes of persons as are prescribed or as are authorised by the Secretary; prescribing fees or maximum fees or authorising the charging of reasonable fees in respect of such examinations (and different fees may be prescribed or provided for in respect of different circumstances and different testing authorities); prescribing the persons to whom any fees are to be paid; and exempting specified relocatable buildings or pleasure vessels, or classes of relocatable buildings or pleasure vessels, from the provisions of the regulations:
(e) Prescribing, in relation to workers,—
(i) The training required for any specified class or classes of workers for the purposes of establishing and maintaining safety standards in relation to the manufacture, extraction, storage, processing, treatment, distribution, supply, and application of gas:
(ii) The levels of technical or other qualifications necessary for the carrying out of any specified class or classes of gas work:
Provided that nothing in this paragraph shall authorise the making of any regulation in contradiction to the provisions of the Plumbers, Gasfitters, and Drainlayers Act 1976 or any regulations made under that Act:
(f) Regulating and controlling—
(i) The distribution and supply of gas:
(ii) The installation, use, and maintenance of gas measurement systems used for or in connection with the supply or use of gas:
(g) Providing for the protection of fittings:
(h) Requiring the keeping and retention of such records as are necessary for the purposes of establishing and maintaining safety standards in relation to the production, transmission, distribution, and application of gas, and prescribing the particulars that shall be included in such records:
(i) Requiring gas wholesalers to supply to gas retailers and consumers such information on changes in gas composition or variations in gas supplied as is prescribed:
(j) Providing for the testing, inspection, and certification of gasfitting:
(k) Prescribing standards in respect of the quality, composition, physical properties, dew point, calorific value, purity, odorisation, and odour of gas supplied:
(l) Prescribing permissible pressure ranges in respect of the supply of gas:
(m) Providing for the testing and sealing of gas measurement systems and calibration equipment; prescribing the manner in which and the means by which such testing and sealing shall be done; and regulating the manner in which and the means by which gas measurement systems and calibration equipment are reassembled in connection with such testing:
(n) Authorising the Secretary—
(i) In cases of urgency, to issue, in such manner as may be prescribed, instructions, orders, or requirements for securing the protection of persons from injuries caused, directly or indirectly, by gas:
Provided that any such instruction, order, or requirement shall remain in force for such period, not exceeding 6 months, as may be determined by the Secretary or until its earlier revocation by the Secretary:
(ii) To obtain such information concerning the production, transmission, distribution, sale, consumption, application, and supply of gas as may be required for statistical purposes:
(iii) To carry out tests on distribution systems, gas installations, fittings, and gas appliances:
(o) authorising the Secretary or the chief executive of the department of State responsible for the administration of the Building Act 2004, or both, to exempt specific gas installations, gas appliances, fittings, persons, or things from requirements imposed by regulations made under this section, subject to any conditions that the Secretary or, as the case requires, the chief executive thinks fit:
(p) Exempting or providing for the exemption of distribution systems, gas installations, fittings, and gas appliances from the provisions of section 46 of this Act:
(q) Prescribing the matters in respect of which fees are payable under this Act; prescribing the amount of the fees or the method by which they are to be assessed; and providing for the remission or refund of any such fees:
(r) Prescribing the forms of documents required under this Act, or authorising the Secretary to prescribe or approve such forms, and requiring the use of such forms:
(s) Prescribing offences in respect of the contravention of or non-compliance with any regulations made under this section, and the amount of the fine that may be imposed in respect of any such offence, which fine shall be an amount not exceeding $50,000 and, where the offence is a continuing one, a further amount not exceeding $2,000 for every day or part of a day during which the offence has continued:
(sb) prescribing infringement offences:
(sc) setting the infringement fee for each infringement offence, which,—
(i) in the case of an individual, must not exceed $1,000; or
(ii) in the case of a body corporate, must not exceed $3,000:
(sd) prescribing information to be included in infringement notices and reminder notices:
(se) prescribing, for the purposes of this Act, where the point of supply is deemed to be or not to be in relation to any place and the circumstances and conditions in which any point is deemed to be or not to be a point of supply:
(t) Providing for such matters as are contemplated by or necessary for giving full effect to the provisions of this Act and for its due administration.
(2) Any regulations made under any of paragraphs (b) to (m) of subsection (1) of this section may—
(a) Require compliance with the whole or any part of any gas code of practice or any official standard:
(b) Provide that proof of compliance with—
(i) Any gas code of practice, or any part of such a code; or
(ia) any official standard, or any part of an official standard; or
(ii) Any approved code of practice for the time being in force pursuant to section 20 of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, or any part of any such approved code of practice,—
shall be proof of compliance with such provisions of the regulations as are specified in the regulations.
(2A) Regulations may require compliance with an official standard (or a specified part of an official standard) that relates to the subject matter of the regulations by referring to it in the regulations (with any additions or variations that may be specified in the regulations).
(2B) That official standard (or the specified part), as it existed on the date of the inclusion (but with any specified additions or variations) is then deemed to form part of the regulations.
(3) Without limiting paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section, regulations made under subparagraph (iv) of that paragraph may require types or categories of gas measurement systems to be approved by the Secretary before being offered for sale in New Zealand, notwithstanding that such approval is not required for the purposes of securing the protection of persons and property from injury or damage caused through gas, either directly or indirectly.
(4) Without limiting the Acts Interpretation Act 1924, no regulation made under this section shall be invalid because it leaves any matter to the discretion of the Secretary or any other person, or because it authorises the Secretary or any other person—
(a) To give any consent or approval on or subject to conditions to be imposed or approved by the Secretary or any other person; or
(b) To set any standard.
(5) Notwithstanding section 1(3) of this Act, and without limiting section 12 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1924, no regulation made under this section may be expressed to come into force before the 1st day of April 1993.
(6) The Minister, before recommending the making of any regulations under this section, shall consult with the Environmental Risk Management Authority established under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 about the contents of such regulations and shall take into account any submissions made by that Authority.
Compare: 1968 No 125 s 55; 1982 No 27 s 67; 1983 No 123 s 8; 1987 No 111 s 13
Subsection (1)(bb) and (bc) was inserted, as from 5 December 2006, by section 13(1) Gas Amendment Act 2006 (2006 No 71).
Subsection (1)(o) was substituted, as from 31 March 2005, by section 414 Building Act 2004 (2004 No 72). See subpart 4 of Part 5 of that Act (comprising sections 416 to 451) as to the transitional provisions.
Subsection (1)(s) was amended, as from 5 December 2006, by section 13(2) Gas Amendment Act 2006 (2006 No 71) by substituting the expression “$50,000”
for the expression “$10,000”
.
Subsection (1)(sb) to (sc) was inserted, as from 5 December 2006, by section 13(3) Gas Amendment Act 2006 (2006 No 71).
Subsection (2)(a) was amended, as from 27 September 2001, by section 4 Gas Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 67) by adding the words “or any official standard”
.
Subsection (2)(b) was amended, as from 27 September 2001, by section 4 Gas Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 67) by inserting, after subparagraph (i), subparagraph (ia).
Subsections (2A) and (2B) were inserted, after subsection (2), as from 27 September 2001, by section 4 Gas Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 67) by inserting, after subparagraph (i), subparagraph (ia)
Subsection (6) was inserted, as from 2 July 2001, by section 149 Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 (1996 No 30). See Parts 11 to 16 of that Act (comprising sections 151 to 259) as to the transitional provisions. See clause 2 Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act Commencement Order (No 2) 2001 (SR 2001/172).