Epidemic Preparedness Act 2006

Prospective modification of statutory requirements and restrictions

11: Prospective modification of statutory requirements and restrictions to facilitate management of serious outbreaks of disease

You could also call this:

"Changing rules to help manage serious disease outbreaks"

Illustration for Epidemic Preparedness Act 2006

The Governor-General can change rules to help manage serious disease outbreaks. You need to know that the Minister of Health must agree to this first. The Minister will only agree if the Director-General of Health thinks it is necessary. The changes can be absolute or have conditions. You can comply with the new rules in different ways. The Governor-General can substitute a discretionary power for the old rule. An order to change the rules is called secondary legislation, which has its own publication requirements, as stated in Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019. The changes will be made with prospective effect, as stated in section 13. This means the changes will apply from a specific date in the future.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM404490.

This page was last updated on 2 December 2025 — View changes

10: Review of epidemic management notices, or

"Checking if epidemic rules are working"

12: Prospective modification of statutory requirements and restrictions to enable compliance during epidemic, or

"Changing rules to help during an epidemic"

11Prospective modification of statutory requirements and restrictions to facilitate management of serious outbreaks of disease

The Governor-General may, by Order in Council made on the recommendation of the Minister of Health, modify (with prospective effect as stated in section 13) any requirement or restriction imposed by any enactment administered by the Ministry of Health.
The Minister of Health must not recommend the making of an order except on a written recommendation of the Director-General of Health, stating that, in the Director-General’s opinion, the modifications it makes are likely to be necessary to enable the effective management of serious outbreaks of diseases affecting people or their effects (or both).
A modification of a requirement or restriction—
may be absolute or subject to conditions; and
may be made—
1. by stating alternative means of complying with the requirement or restriction; or
2. by substituting a discretionary power for the requirement or restriction.

Subsection (3) does not limit subsection (1).
An order under this section is secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

Notes

Section 11(5): inserted, on 28 October 2021, by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).