Children’s Act 2014

Children's worker safety checking - Regulations

33: Other regulations

You could also call this:

"Rules to Keep Children Safe: Extra Laws Made by the Governor-General"

The Governor-General can make rules for several purposes. You can think of these rules like a set of instructions that help keep children safe. The Governor-General can change a list called Schedule 1 by adding, removing, or updating services that work with children.

The Governor-General can also set a date for when certain groups must follow the rules. You might be wondering what kind of groups - these are local authorities and some individuals and organisations mentioned in section 24(1)(c). The Governor-General can decide that some individuals or organisations do not have to follow the rules, but this must be done carefully to keep children safe.

The Governor-General can make rules about how to apply for exemptions, which means not having to follow some rules, under section 35. They can also make rules about approving services that screen people who work with children, as mentioned in section 40, and how to suspend or cancel these approvals if needed.

When making these rules, the Governor-General must follow certain guidelines. For example, when adding a new service to the list, they must be sure it will employ people who work with children and that these workers will be checked to ensure children's safety. If a service is removed from the list, the Governor-General must be sure it won't put children at risk.

These rules are a type of law called secondary legislation, which you can read more about in Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019.

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This page was last updated on 6 August 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM5501718.

Topics:

Family and relationships > Children and parentingGovernment and voting > Government departments

32: Regulations prescribing requirements for safety checks, or

"Rules for keeping kids safe: what to check and how to do it"

34: Transitional provision relating to local authorities, etc, or

"Rules for organisations that become involved with the law at different times"

Part 3Children's worker safety checking
Regulations

33Other regulations

The Governor-General may, by Order in Council, make regulations for any of the following purposes:
amending (subject to subsections (2) and (3)) Schedule 1 by—
1. adding any new regulated service; or
2. omitting any regulated service; or
3. correcting or updating the description of any regulated service:
specifying a date (being a date earlier than 2 years after the date on which this Part comes into force) on which local authorities, and the individuals and organisations referred to in section 24(1)(c), become specified organisations:
providing that individuals or organisations, or classes of individuals or organisations, are not specified organisations (but see subsection (4)):
prescribing the process, not inconsistent with this Part, for applying for, granting, and revoking exemptions under section 35:
prescribing the processes and requirements for approving screening services under section 40, and the process and grounds on which any approval may be suspended or cancelled:
providing for any other matter contemplated by this Part, necessary for its administration, or necessary for giving it full effect.

Regulations may be made under subsection (1)(a)(i) only in accordance with a recommendation by the Minister that he or she is satisfied that the service proposed to be added to Schedule 1 employs or engages, or is likely to employ or engage, children's workers and that the requirements of this Part relating to the checking of children's workers should apply.
Regulations may be made under subsection (1)(a)(ii) only in accordance with a recommendation by the Minister that he or she is satisfied that omitting the regulated service from Schedule 1 will not result in undue risk to the safety of children.
Regulations may be made under subsection (1)(c) only in accordance with a recommendation by the Minister that he or she is satisfied that providing that individuals or organisations, or classes of individuals or organisations, identified in the regulations are not specified organisations will not result in undue risk to the safety of children.
Regulations under this section are secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

Notes

Section 33(5): inserted, on 28 October 2021, by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).