Animal Welfare Act 1999

Miscellaneous provisions - Transitional provisions

192: Codes of ethical conduct

You could also call this:

"Rules for treating animals kindly and responsibly"

When the Animal Welfare Act 1999 started, some rules about how to treat animals were already in place. You need to know that these rules are called codes of ethical conduct. They were approved by the Minister under the Animals Protection Act 1960.

If a code of ethical conduct was approved before 31 December 1990, it is deemed to have been approved by the Director-General under section 91 for 3 years. If it was approved between 1 January 1991 and 31 December 1994, it is deemed to have been approved for 4 years. If it was approved after 31 December 1994, it is deemed to have been approved for 5 years.

The person who got the code approved is called the code holder. You are deemed to be the code holder if you got the Minister's approval for the code. You are also deemed to be a code holder for the purposes of section 105(3).

Other parts of the Act, like sections 95 and 96, apply to these codes of ethical conduct. But if a code has a provision that is not allowed under section 91, that provision does not apply.

If you are doing research, testing, or teaching without a code of ethical conduct, you can keep doing it if your projects are approved by an animal ethics committee. You must follow the code of ethical conduct and get each project approved by the committee.

If a code of ethical conduct is deemed to have been approved, you can do research, testing, or teaching without getting your own code approved. You must get each project approved by an animal ethics committee and follow the code of ethical conduct. The code holder, the animal ethics committee, and you must agree on the arrangements for the research, testing, or teaching. The code holder must also tell the Director-General about the arrangements in writing before you start.

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This page was last updated on 19 May 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM51962.

Topics:

Environment and resources > Farming and fishingHealth and wellbeing > Public health

191: Deemed codes of welfare, or

"Rules that were automatically considered kind to animals"

193: Animal ethics committees, or

"Old animal ethics committees can keep working if they were set up before this law started"

Part 9Miscellaneous provisions
Transitional provisions

192Codes of ethical conduct

Where a code of ethical conduct that has been approved by the Minister under section 19A of the Animals Protection Act 1960 is in force on the commencement of this Act,—
that code,—
1. if approved by the Minister before 31 December 1990, is deemed to have been approved by the Director-General under section 91 for the period of 3 years beginning with the date of the commencement of this Act; and
2. if approved by the Minister in the period beginning on 1 January 1991 and ending with the close of 31 December 1994, is deemed to have been approved by the Director-General under section 91 for the period of 4 years beginning with the date of the commencement of this Act; and
3. if approved by the Minister after 31 December 1994, is deemed to have been approved by the Director-General under section 91 for the period of 5 years beginning with the date of the commencement of this Act; and
the code holder in respect of any such code—
1. is deemed to be the person who applied for and obtained, under section 19A of the Animals Protection Act 1960, the Minister's approval of that code of ethical conduct; and
2. is deemed, for the purposes of section 105(3), to be a code holder.

Sections 95 and 96 and all the other provisions of this Act (including the terms defined by section 2(1)) have effect, with all necessary modifications, in relation to every code of ethical conduct to which subsection (1) applies.
Despite subsection (1), where a code of ethical conduct to which that subsection applies contains a provision that would be outside the scope of a code of ethical conduct approved by the Director-General under section 91, no such provision has effect by virtue of the approval deemed by subsection (1) of this section to have been given under section 91.
Where, at the commencement of this Act, a person (other than a code holder in respect of a code of ethical conduct to which subsection (1) applies) is carrying out research, testing, or teaching without having a code of ethical conduct approved under section 19A of the Animal Protection Act 1960 but is having each of that person's projects approved by an animal ethics committee appointed by such a code holder, that person may, for the period for which the code holder's code of ethical conduct is deemed to be approved under section 91, continue to carry out research, testing, and teaching if each project carried out by that person during that period—
is approved by that animal ethics committee; and
is carried out in accordance with that code of ethical conduct.

Where a code of ethical conduct is deemed by subsection (1)(a) to have been approved by the Director-General under section 91, any person may, for the period for which the code is deemed to have been approved, carry out research, testing, or teaching without obtaining under that section approval of a code of ethical conduct and without appointing an animal ethics committee if—
each project carried out by that person is approved by an animal ethics committee appointed by the person who is the code holder in respect of that code of ethical conduct; and
the arrangements in relation to the research, testing, or teaching are agreed on by that person, the code holder in respect of that code of ethical conduct, and the animal ethics committee appointed by that code holder; and
the code holder in respect of that code of ethical conduct, before the research, testing, or teaching is commenced, gives to the Director-General written notice of the arrangements for the research, testing, or teaching.