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Legislation Act 2019

Interpretation and application of legislation - Power to incorporate by reference

64: Power for secondary legislation to incorporate material by reference

You could also call this:

"Laws can include information from other sources by referencing it, rather than writing it all out."

When you read laws in New Zealand, you might see that they include information from other places. This can be a standard or code of practice from an international organisation or another country. You can also find rules or requirements from other groups or countries included in our laws.

If it's not practical to write all the details into the law, or if the information is too big, it can be referenced instead. This means the law will mention where you can find the information, rather than writing it all out. For example, the law might say that you need to follow a certain standard, and then tell you where to find that standard.

When a law includes information from another source, that information becomes part of the law. You can find more information about how this works in section 66. There are also other laws that allow information to be included by reference, such as sections 29 to 32 of the Standards and Accreditation Act 2015.

This rule about including information by reference is in addition to other rules that already exist. It does not limit what other laws can do, and it works alongside other rules of law. You can find more information about how laws work together in other parts of 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=DLM7298339.

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Part 2Interpretation and application of legislation
Power to incorporate by reference

64Power for secondary legislation to incorporate material by reference

  1. This section is sufficient authority for secondary legislation to incorporate 1 or more of the following by reference:

  2. a standard, framework, code of practice, recommended practice, or requirement of an international organisation or a national organisation:
    1. a standard, framework, code of practice, recommended practice, or requirement prescribed in any country or jurisdiction, or by any group of countries:
      1. any other written material that deals with technical matters if it is reasonable to consider that—
        1. it is impracticable to include the material in the secondary legislation; or
          1. the material is so large that including it in the secondary legislation will prevent persons to whom the law applies from using or understanding the secondary legislation with reasonable ease.

          2. For the purposes of this section, secondary legislation incorporates material by reference if the secondary legislation does 1 or more of the following:

          3. incorporates the material in whole or in part, and with or without modification:
            1. incorporates amendments to which section 66 applies.

              1. Material incorporated by reference in reliance on this section has legal effect as part of the legislation that incorporates the material.

              2. This provision applies in addition to, and does not limit, any of the following:

              3. any other power in legislation to incorporate material by reference (for example, sections 29 to 32 of the Standards and Accreditation Act 2015):
                1. the ability of legislation to refer to or incorporate other legislation:
                  1. any rule of law.

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