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New Zealand law explained for everyone

Epidemic Preparedness Act 2006

3: Purpose

You could also call this:

"To keep you and your community safe from epidemics in New Zealand"

Illustration for Epidemic Preparedness Act 2006

The main purpose of the Epidemic Preparedness Act 2006 is to help government agencies prevent epidemics in New Zealand. You can think of it like a plan to stop epidemics from happening. The Act also helps agencies respond to epidemics if they do happen in New Zealand. The Act is designed to help government agencies respond to possible consequences of epidemics, whether they happen in New Zealand or overseas. This means the Act is trying to help keep you and your community safe during an epidemic. The Epidemic Preparedness Act 2006 also aims to ensure that certain activities can still happen during an epidemic in New Zealand. This includes allowing some rules to be relaxed if they cannot be followed during an epidemic. You can expect the Act to help things keep running as normally as possible during an epidemic.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM404464.

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Topics:
Health and wellbeing > Public healthGovernment and voting > Emergency management
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2: Commencement, or

"When the Act officially starts"

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4: Interpretation, or

"What special words mean in the Epidemic Preparedness Act 2006"

3Purpose

  1. The principal purpose of this Act is to ensure that there is adequate statutory power for government agencies—

  2. to try to prevent the outbreak of epidemics in New Zealand; and
    1. to respond to epidemics in New Zealand; and
      1. to respond to certain possible consequences of epidemics (whether occurring in New Zealand or overseas).

        1. This Act also has the following purposes:

        2. to ensure that certain activities normally undertaken by people and agencies interacting with government agencies can continue to be undertaken during an epidemic in New Zealand:
          1. to enable the relaxation of some statutory requirements that might not be capable of being complied with, or complied with fully, during an epidemic.