These are amendments to the current NZ COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill (No 2) 2021 that New Zealanders should be aware of.

7

Section 11 replaced (Orders that can be made under this Act)

Replace section 11 with:

11

Orders that can be made under this Act

(1)

The Minister or the Director-General may, in accordance with section 9 or 10 (as the case may be), make an order under this section for 1 or more of the following purposes:

(a)

to require persons to refrain from taking any specified actions that contribute or are likely to contribute to the risk of the outbreak or spread of COVID-19, or require persons to take any specified actions, or comply with any specified measures, that contribute or are likely to contribute to preventing, containing, reducing, controlling, managing, eliminating, or limiting the risk of the outbreak or spread of COVID-19, including (without limitation) requiring persons to do any of the following:

(i)

stay in any specified place or refrain from going to any specified place:

(ii)

refrain from associating with specified persons:

(iii)

stay physically distant from any persons in any specified way:

(iv)

refrain from travelling to or from any specified area:

(v)

refrain from carrying out specified activities (for example, business activities involving close personal contact) or carry out specified activities only in any specified way or in compliance with specified measures:

(vi)

be isolated or quarantined in any specified place or in any specified way:

(vii)

refrain from participating in gatherings of any specified kind, in any specified place, or in specified circumstances:

(viii)

report for and undergo a medical examination or testing of any kind, and at any place or time, specified and in any specified way or specified circumstances:

(ix)

provide, in specified circumstances or in any specified way, any information necessary for the purpose of contact tracing:

(x)

satisfy any specified criteria before entering New Zealand from a place outside New Zealand, which may include being registered to enter an MIQF on arrival in New Zealand:

(b)

in relation to an MIQF or other place of isolation or quarantine, to require specified actions to be taken, or require compliance with any specified measures, for the purpose of managing the movement of people to, from, and within the MIQF or other place of isolation and quarantine, including (without limitation) any of the following:

(i)

giving directions that relate to the movement of people to, from, and within the MIQF or other place of isolation or quarantine:

(ii)

imposing restrictions and conditions that relate to the movement of people to, from, and within the MIQF or other place of isolation or quarantine:

(iii)

permitting people to leave their rooms in the MIQF or other place of isolation or quarantine in accordance with any requirements or conditions specified in the order:

(c)

in relation to any places, premises, craft, vehicles, or other things, to require specified actions to be taken, require compliance with any specified measures, or impose specified prohibitions that contribute or are likely to contribute to preventing, containing, reducing, controlling, managing, eliminating, or limiting the risk of the outbreak or spread of COVID-19, including (without limitation) any of the following:

(i)

requiring any places, premises, craft, vehicles, or other things to be closed or only open if specified measures are complied with:

(ii)

prohibiting any craft, vehicles, or other things from entering any port or place, or permitting the entry of any craft, vehicles, or other things into any port or place only if specified measures are complied with:

(iii)

prohibiting gatherings of any specified kind in any specified places or premises, or in any specified circumstances:

(iv)

requiring any places, premises, craft, vehicles, or other things to be isolated, quarantined, or disinfected in any specified way or specified circumstances:

(v)

requiring the testing of any places, premises, craft, vehicles, or other things in any specified way or specified circumstances:

(d)

in relation to laboratories that undertake COVID-19 testing, by—

(i)

etting quality control measures and minimum standards:

(ii)

requiring COVID-19 test results to be reported to the Director-General’s public health national testing repository:

(iii)

managing the supply of testing consumables (such as reagents and swabs) used by the laboratories:

(iv)

providing differently for different classes of testing laboratories (for example, different provisions for laboratories depending on whether they are funded publicly or privately):

(e)

requiring the owner or any person in charge of a specified laboratory that undertakes COVID-19 testing to—

(i)

deliver or use, in accordance with directions given under the order, specified quantities of COVID-19 testing consumables that the Minister considers necessary for the purposes of the public health response to COVID-19:

(ii)

undertake COVID-19 testing solely for the purposes of the public health response to COVID-19 while subject to the order, whether or not the laboratory is contracted by the Crown for that purpose.

(2)

An order made by the Minister may specify which breaches of an order made by the Minister or the Director-General are infringement offences for the purposes of section 26(3), and may specify that a breach of an order is a particular class of infringement offence (with the corresponding penalties) for the purposes of regulations made under section 33(1)(b).

(3)

For the purposes of this section and section 12, things includes animals, goods, businesses, records, equipment, and supplies.

(4)

All goods prohibited from import under a COVID-19 order are deemed to be included among goods prohibited from import under section 96 of the Customs and Excise Act 2018, and the provisions of that Act apply to those goods accordingly.

(5)

A COVID-19 order is secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

(6)

If a COVID-19 order authorises the Director-General or chief executive to do anything specified in section 12(1)(d) by notice,—

(a)

the notice is secondary legislation, unless it applies only to 1 or more named persons or things; and

(b) the order must contain a statement to that effect.

Read the Bill HERE