Human Rights Act 1993

Human Rights Commission

4: Continuation of Human Rights Commission

You could also call this:

"The Human Rights Commission keeps working to protect people's rights in New Zealand."

You have a Human Rights Commission in New Zealand. It is the same body as the one set up under the Human Rights Commission Act 1977. The Commission is a Crown entity. You can find more information about what this means in the Crown Entities Act 2004, which applies to the Commission. The Commission has powers under the Crown Entities Act 2004, but it can only use these powers in certain ways. These powers can be used by people authorised by this Act or the Crown Entities Act 2004. The Director of Human Rights Proceedings and their staff can also use these powers when they are doing their job. They must follow directions from the Director when using these powers. The Crown Entities Act 2004 has more information about this, which you can find on the New Zealand legislation website. You can also look at sections 16 and 17 of the Crown Entities Act 2004 for more details. The Crown Entities Act 2004 is an important law that affects the Human Rights Commission.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM304269.

This page was last updated on 13 December 2025 — View changes

Topics:

Rights and equality > Anti-discriminationGovernment and voting > Government departments

3: Act to bind the Crown, or

"The government and its departments must follow this law."

5: Functions of Commission, or

"The Human Rights Commission's main jobs are to promote respect and equality for everyone in New Zealand."

Part 1Human Rights Commission

4Continuation of Human Rights Commission

There shall continue to be a Human Rights Commission, which shall be the same body as the Human Rights Commission established under section 4 of the Human Rights Commission Act 1977.
The Commission is a Crown entity for the purposes of section 7 of the Crown Entities Act 2004.
The Crown Entities Act 2004 applies to the Commission except to the extent that this Act expressly provides otherwise.
Despite anything in any other Act, the powers of the Commission under sections 16 and 17 of the Crown Entities Act 2004 may be exercised only—
by persons authorised by or under this Act or the Crown Entities Act 2004 to perform functions of the Commission, for the purposes of performing those functions; or
by the Director of Human Rights Proceedings, his or her alternate, or the staff of the Office of Human Rights Proceedings (acting in accordance with directions issued by the Director or his or her alternate), for the purposes of exercising or performing a function, power, or duty of the Director under this Act.

Compare

1977 No 49 s 4

Notes

Section 4(2): substituted, on 25 January 2005, by section 200 of the Crown Entities Act 2004 (2004 No 115).
Section 4(3): substituted, on 25 January 2005, by section 200 of the Crown Entities Act 2004 (2004 No 115).
Section 4(4): added, on 1 January 2002, by section 4 of the Human Rights Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 96).
Section 4(4): amended, on 25 January 2005, by section 200 of the Crown Entities Act 2004 (2004 No 115).
Section 4(4)(a): amended, on 25 January 2005, by section 200 of the Crown Entities Act 2004 (2004 No 115).