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Civil Aviation Act 1990

Miscellaneous provisions

96: Sale of alcohol at international airports

You could also call this:

“Rules for buying and drinking alcohol at airports for international travellers”

At international airports in New Zealand, you can buy alcohol if you’re a passenger on a flight arriving in or leaving New Zealand. If you want to take the alcohol off the airport, you need to be at least 18 years old. If you want to drink the alcohol at the airport, you also need to be at least 18 years old.

If you buy alcohol at the airport, you can’t give it to someone else in New Zealand or drink it in New Zealand unless you’ve declared it to customs first.

The government can make rules about how alcohol is sold at airports to passengers who are old enough to buy it. They can also make rules about what happens if people break these laws, including fines up to $1,000.

It’s against the law to sell alcohol at an airport to passengers who are younger than 18. It’s also against the law to give alcohol bought at the airport to someone else in New Zealand or to drink it in New Zealand if you haven’t declared it to customs. If you break these laws, you might have to pay a fine of up to $1,000.

The usual alcohol laws in New Zealand don’t apply to alcohol sold at airports under these special rules.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM218574.

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Part 11 Miscellaneous provisions

96Sale of alcohol at international airports

  1. Alcohol may be sold at any international airport to any passenger on an aircraft departing from or arriving in New Zealand if—

  2. in the case of alcohol bought for consumption off the airport premises, the passenger is of or over the age stated in section 5 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012; and
    1. in the case of alcohol bought for consumption on the airport premises, the passenger is of or over the age stated in section 5 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012.

      1. Unless alcohol sold under the authority of subsection (1) has been entered by the passenger concerned for home consumption in accordance with the Customs and Excise Act 2018, a person must not deliver it by or on behalf of the buyer to any other person within New Zealand, or consume it within New Zealand.

      2. The Governor-General may, from time to time, by Order in Council, make regulations for either or both of the following purposes:

      3. prescribing the circumstances and conditions relating to the control of the sale of alcohol at international airports to passengers on aircraft departing from or arriving in New Zealand who are of or over the age referred to in subsection (1)(a) or (b) (as the case requires):
        1. prescribing offences in respect of the contravention of or non-compliance with any provision of any regulations made under this section, and prescribing fines, not exceeding $1,000, that may, on conviction, be imposed in respect of any such offence.

          1. A person commits an offence who—

          2. sells alcohol at any international airport to any passenger on an aircraft departing from or arriving in New Zealand who is under the age referred to in subsection (1)(a) or (b) (as the case requires); or
            1. fails to comply with subsection (2).

              1. A person who commits an offence against subsection (4) is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000.

              2. Nothing in the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 applies to the sale of alcohol under the authority of this section or of any regulations made under it.

              3. Regulations under subsection (3) are secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

              Notes
              • Section 96: replaced, on , by section 417(1) of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 (2012 No 120).
              • Section 96(2): amended, on , by section 443(3) of the Customs and Excise Act 2018 (2018 No 4).
              • Section 96(7): inserted, on , by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).