Land Transport Act 1998

Driving offences involving drink or drugs, and penalties and procedures - Enforcement procedures for offences involving use of qualifying drugs - Minister’s powers to make notices

71GA: Minister may specify listed qualifying drugs and concentration level to be tested for by approved analyst

You could also call this:

"The Minister can decide which drugs to test for in drivers and how much of the drug is too much."

Illustration for Land Transport Act 1998

The Minister of Police can create a notice that says which drugs an approved analyst can test for in someone's oral fluid. You need to know that the Minister can also decide the level of a drug that must be present for the test to be positive. This level is called the positive evidential threshold. The Minister of Police must talk to the Minister of Transport and the Science Minister before making a notice. The Minister of Police can only make a notice if they think the positive evidential threshold shows that the person has used the drug recently. You can find out more about what happens to a notice made under this section by looking at the Legislation Act 2019.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1564028.

This page was last updated on 29 January 2026 — View changes

Topics:

Transport and travel > DrivingHealth and wellbeing > Public healthCrime and justice > Police and safety

71G: Minister may approve oral fluid screening devices for use in oral fluid screening tests, or

"The Minister can approve devices to test drivers for drug use."

72: Who must give blood specimen at places other than hospital or medical centre, or

"When you must give a blood sample to a doctor or nurse if asked by a police officer"

Part 6Driving offences involving drink or drugs, and penalties and procedures
Enforcement procedures for offences involving use of qualifying drugs: Minister’s powers to make notices

71GAMinister may specify listed qualifying drugs and concentration level to be tested for by approved analyst

The Minister of Police may, by notice, specify—
1 or more listed qualifying drugs in respect of which an approved analyst may analyse an oral fluid sample for the purpose of testing the sample for the presence of that drug or those drugs; and
for each listed qualifying drug, the concentration level of the drug in the person’s oral fluid at or above which the result of the test will appear positive for that drug (the positive evidential threshold).

Before making a notice, the Minister of Police must consult the Minister of Transport and the Science Minister.
The Minister of Police may make a notice only if that Minister is satisfied that the positive evidential threshold proposed to be approved under subsection (1)(b) for use by an approved analyst to test for a listed qualifying drug indicates recent use of that listed qualifying drug.
In determining whether a positive evidential threshold meets the requirement specified in subsection (3),—
the Minister of Police must have regard to any relevant standard; and
it is sufficient to meet the requirement if the positive evidential threshold aligns with the applicable threshold specified in the relevant standard; and
if the positive evidential threshold does not align with the applicable threshold specified in the relevant standard or if there is no applicable threshold specified in any relevant standard, the Minister of Police may nevertheless be satisfied that the requirement is met on the basis of other relevant information.

A notice made under this section is secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

Notes

Section 71GA: inserted, on 15 December 2025, by section 28 of the Land Transport (Drug Driving) Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 12).