If you do not do the sanitary work you are supposed to do, or you do not fix a sanitary problem, the medical officer of health can do the work or fix the problem for you. You will have to pay for all the expenses of getting the work done or the problem fixed. The medical officer of health can get this money back from you as a debt owed to the government, which in New Zealand is referred to as the Crown.

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This page was last updated on 24 May 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM307217.

72: Offences relating to obstructing medical officer of health or people assisting medical officer of health, or

"Getting in trouble for stopping or hurting health workers or police from doing their job"

74: Health practitioners to give notice of cases of notifiable disease, or

"Doctors and nurses must report certain serious diseases to health authorities as soon as possible."

Part 3Infectious and notifiable diseases

73Medical officer of health may cause sanitary works to be undertaken

Without limiting the liability of any person for an offence under the last preceding section, if any offence under that section consists in not doing any sanitary work or in failing to remedy any sanitary defect the medical officer of health may himself cause the work to be done or the defect to be remedied at the expense in all things of the offender.
All such expenses shall be recoverable as a debt due to the Crown.

Notes

Section 73(2): replaced, on 1 July 1993, by section 19 of the Health Amendment Act 1993 (1993 No 24).