117Regulations as to public health

1. The Governor-General may from time to time by Order in Council make such regulations as may in his opinion be necessary or expedient for giving full effect to the provisions of this Act, and for all or any of the following purposes:

2. the improvement, promotion, and protection of public health:
3. the inspection, cleansing, purifying, disinfection, fumigation, and isolation of ships, aircraft, houses, buildings, yards, conveyances, drains, sewers, and things:
4. the destruction of insanitary things:
5. the vaccination of persons for the prevention of quarantinable diseases and other diseases, and the adoption of any other measures for the prevention and mitigation of disease:
6. the management of persons with, or suspected of having, infectious diseases, including persons subject to an urgent public health order or a court order under Part 3A, and their contacts:
7. the provision of medical aid, transport, accommodation, and curative treatment for the sick:
8. the transportation and disposal of the dead:
9. the isolation, disinfection, and treatment of persons suffering from any infectious disease:
10. the isolation or medical observation and surveillance of persons suspected to be suffering from any infectious disease, of persons in charge of or in attendance on persons suffering from any infectious disease, and of other persons who may have been exposed to the infection of any infectious disease:
11. the identification of, and communication with, contacts of persons with, or suspected of having, infectious diseases:
12. the prevention of the spread of any infectious disease by persons who are contacts or carriers within the meaning of this Act, and the keeping of such persons under medical surveillance, and the restriction of the movements and the preventive treatment of such persons:
13. with respect to any infectious disease, prescribing the period which shall be deemed to be the period of incubation of that disease for the purposes of this Act:
14. the clinical, chemical, bacteriological, and other examinations and investigations necessary to determine whether any person is suffering from disease or is a carrier of any infectious disease, and whether any person who has been suffering from any infectious disease has ceased to be likely to convey infection:
15. the closing of schools or the regulation or restriction of school attendance to prevent or restrict the spread of any infectious disease:
16. prescribing the duties of parents or guardians of children who are suffering from, or have recently suffered from or been exposed to the infection of, any infectious disease, and the duties of persons in charge of schools in respect of any such children:
17. prescribing the accommodation to be provided in connection with boarding schools, orphanages, or other like institutions for the reception of persons in attendance thereat or resident therein who may be suffering from any infectious disease or who may be contacts within the meaning of this Act:
18. the regulation or restriction of the attendance of the public, or of any section of the public, at any place of public recreation or amusement or concourse, or the closing of any such places for admission to the public:
19. the regulation, restriction, or prohibition of the convening, holding, or attending of any public gatherings:
20. the regulation or restriction of traffic and the movements of persons within or from any area in which an infectious disease is prevalent:
21. prescribing the form and content of the notifications with respect to disease by medical practitioners and other persons, and prescribing the fees payable to medical practitioners, veterinary surgeons, or persons in charge of laboratories in respect of such notifications:
22. prescribing identifying information for the purpose of section 74(3C)(b):
23. prescribing, for the purposes of section 115, the infringement fee or infringement fees payable in respect of an infringement offence, which,—
    1. in the case of an individual, may not exceed $1,000:
    2. in the case of a body corporate, may not exceed $5,000:
24. prescribing, for the purposes of section 116A (and for the purposes of the procedure in section 21 of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957 as modified and applied by section 116A), the form of infringement notices and reminder notices for infringement offences, and any other particulars to be contained in infringement notices and reminder notices:
25. the prohibition or regulation of the importation into New Zealand of any animal or thing likely to introduce or disseminate disease:
26. the destruction of rats, mice, and other vermin, whether on land or on board any ship or any aircraft, the abolition or prevention of conditions favourable to vermin, and the prevention of the migration of rats and mice from ships and aircraft:
27. securing and maintaining the cleanliness and efficient sanitation of ships and aircraft, and preventing danger to health from overcrowding on any ship within any harbour in New Zealand, and preventing the pollution of the waters of any harbour with offensive matter from any ship:
28. the prevention of the pollution, so as to be injurious to health, of any river, stream, watercourse, or lake, whether used as a source of water supply or not:
29. the protection of food from the infection of any communicable disease on any premises used for the manufacture, preparation, packing, storage or handling of any article of food for sale, and the prohibition or restriction of the handling, by persons suffering from any communicable disease, of any article of food intended for sale:
30. the organisation of local committees to assist in giving effect to the provisions of this Act in the event of epidemics of disease, and defining the powers of such committees:
31. prescribing or providing for the fixing of reasonable fees to be paid in respect of registration or in respect of the inspection of premises expressly exempted from registration or in respect of any rights or privileges conferred by this Act or by any regulations under this Act, or in respect of any certificates or documents required thereunder, and the persons or authorities entitled to claim and receive any such fees:
32. prescribing offences in respect of the contravention of or non-compliance with any regulation made under this Act or any requirement or direction made or given pursuant to any such regulation.

33. Without limiting anything in paragraph (i) of subsection (1), regulations may be made under that paragraph for all or any of the following purposes:

34. regulating the importation, sale, exchange, supply, use, and disposal of needles and syringes, whether new or used:
35. empowering or requiring the Director-General to approve kinds of needles and syringes, and the packaging and labelling of needles and syringes, for importation into, or sale, exchange, or supply in New Zealand, and prohibiting the importation, sale, exchange, or supply of needles and syringes of any other kind or packaged or labelled in any other manner:
36. empowering the Director-General to fix any fee or cost to be charged for the sale, exchange, or supply of any needle or syringe (whether or not including the cost of packaging).

37. The Governor-General may from time to time by Order in Council make regulations for any matter affecting public health in respect of which any local authority is empowered by this or any other Act to make bylaws.

38. Where any local authority fails to make bylaws for any such matter as aforesaid, or, having made such bylaws, fails to enforce them effectively, and the Governor-General makes regulations in respect of that matter pursuant to the authority conferred by subsection (2), such portion of the cost of the administration of those regulations as the Director-General deems just and equitable shall be chargeable to the local authority, and may be recovered as a debt due to the Crown or may be deducted from any money payable to the local authority by the Crown.

39. Nothing in any provision of this Part shall be construed to limit the generality of any other provision of this Part.

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

41. If regulations referred to in subsection (1A)(c) empower the Director-General to fix fees or costs,—

42. the instrument fixing the fees or costs is secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements); and
43. the regulations must contain a statement to that effect.

Notes

• Section 117(1)(a): replaced, on 22 January 1996, by section 3(3) of the Health and Disability Services Amendment Act 1995 (1995 No 84).
• Section 117(1)(c): amended, on 1 July 1992, by section 92(1) of the Building Act 1991 (1991 No 150).
• Section 117(1)(da): inserted, on 4 January 2017, by section 12(1) of the Health (Protection) Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 35).
• Section 117(1)(ha): inserted, on 4 January 2017, by section 12(2) of the Health (Protection) Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 35).
• Section 117(1)(r): amended, on 4 January 2017, by section 12(3) of the Health (Protection) Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 35).
• Section 117(1)(r): amended, on 3 November 1964, by section 7(a) of the Health Amendment Act 1964 (1964 No 34).
• Section 117(1)(ra): inserted, on 4 January 2017, by section 12(4) of the Health (Protection) Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 35).
• Section 117(1)(rb): inserted, on 4 January 2017, by section 12(4) of the Health (Protection) Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 35).
• Section 117(1)(rc): inserted, on 4 January 2017, by section 12(4) of the Health (Protection) Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 35).
• Section 117(1)(w): amended, on 3 November 1964, by section 7(b) of the Health Amendment Act 1964 (1964 No 34).
• Section 117(1)(y): amended, on 20 October 1972, by section 3 of the Health Amendment Act 1972 (1972 No 65).
• Section 117(1)(y): amended, on 3 November 1964, by section 7(c) of the Health Amendment Act 1964 (1964 No 34).
• Section 117(1A): inserted, on 13 January 1988, by section 2 of the Health Amendment Act (No 2) 1987 (1987 No 194).
• Section 117(2): amended, on 22 January 1996, by section 3(3) of the Health and Disability Services Amendment Act 1995 (1995 No 84).
• Section 117(3): amended, on 1 July 1993, by section 31 of the Health Amendment Act 1993 (1993 No 24).
• Section 117(3): amended, on 23 March 1987, by section 7(2) of the Health Amendment Act 1987 (1987 No 10).
• Section 117(5): inserted, on 28 October 2021, by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).
• Section 117(6): inserted, on 28 October 2021, by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).
• Section 117(6): amended, on 28 October 2021, by regulation 75(1) of the Legislation Act (Amendments to Legislation) Regulations 2021 (LI 2021/247).
• Section 117(6)(a): amended, on 28 October 2021, by regulation 75(2) of the Legislation Act (Amendments to Legislation) Regulations 2021 (LI 2021/247).