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Commerce Act 1986

Restrictive trade practices - Exceptions to Part 2

44: Other exceptions

You could also call this:

"There are some situations where the rules don't apply to contracts or agreements you make with others."

Illustration for Commerce Act 1986

Some rules do not apply to you when you are entering into a contract or arrangement. This can happen when you are in a partnership with other people who are not companies. You can make agreements about how your partnership will work without breaking the rules.

You can also agree to restrictions on the work you do during or after a contract. For example, you might agree not to work for a competitor. If you are selling a business, you can make agreements to protect the goodwill of the business.

You can make contracts that say you must follow certain standards for things like dimension, design, quality, or performance. These standards might be set by a New Zealand Standard or by an association or body that is prescribed by regulations.

You can make agreements about things like pay, working conditions, and hours of work for employees. If you are exporting goods from New Zealand or supplying services outside New Zealand, you can make contracts that relate to these activities. But you must give the Commission full and accurate details of the contract within a certain time frame.

If you are a user of goods or services and you take action with other users against the supplier, the rules might not apply to you. You can also do things to give effect to a contract or arrangement that you have made.

Nothing in this Part applies to contracts or arrangements between companies that are interconnected. You can give effect to these contracts or arrangements without breaking the rules, except for certain sections like sections 36 and 36A.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM88406.

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43: Statutory exceptions, or

"Things the law says are okay to do, even if other rules say you can't"

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44A: Exceptions in relation to international liner shipping services, or

"Some rules don't apply to people working together to provide international shipping services"

Part 2Restrictive trade practices
Exceptions to Part 2

44Other exceptions

  1. Nothing in this Part applies—

  2. to the entering into of a contract, or arrangement, or arriving at an understanding between partners none of whom is a body corporate in so far as it contains a provision in relation to the terms of the partnership or the conduct of the partnership business or in relation to competition between the partnership and a party to the contract, arrangement, or understanding while that party is, or after that party ceases to be, a partner:
      1. to the entering into of a contract of service or a contract for the provision of services in so far as it contains a provision by which a person, not being a body corporate, agrees to accept restrictions as to the work, whether as an employee or otherwise, in which that person may engage during, or after the termination of, the contract:
        1. to the entering into of a contract for, or the giving or requiring the giving of a covenant in connection with, the sale of a business or shares in the capital of a body corporate carrying on a business in so far as it contains a provision that is solely for the protection of the purchaser in respect of the goodwill of the business:
          1. to the entering into of a contract, or arrangement, or arriving at an understanding in so far as it contains a provision obliging a person to comply with or apply—
            1. a New Zealand Standard relating to dimension, design, quality, or performance; or
              1. a standard of dimension, design, quality, or performance prepared or approved by any association or body prescribed for the purpose of this paragraph by regulations made under this Act:
              2. to the entering into of a contract, or arrangement, or arriving at an understanding in so far as it contains a provision that relates to the remuneration, conditions of employment, hours of work, or working conditions of employees:
                1. to the entering into of a contract, or arrangement, or arriving at an understanding in so far as it contains a provision that relates exclusively to the export of goods from New Zealand or exclusively to the supply of services wholly outside New Zealand, if full and accurate particulars of the provision (not including particulars of prices for goods or services but including particulars of any method of fixing, controlling, or maintaining such prices) were furnished to the Commission before the expiration of 15 working days after the date on which the contract or arrangement was made or the understanding was arrived at, or 60 working days after the commencement of this Act, whichever is the later:
                  1. to any act done, otherwise than in trade, in concert by users of goods or services against the suppliers of those goods or services:
                    1. to any act done to give effect to a provision of a contract, arrangement, or understanding, or to a covenant referred to in paragraphs (a) to (g).

                      1. Nothing in this Part (except sections 36 and 36A) applies to—

                      2. the entering into of a contract or arrangement, or arriving at an understanding, or the giving or requiring the giving of a covenant, if the only parties, or (in the case of a covenant or proposed covenant) the only persons who are or would be respectively bound by, or entitled to the benefit of, the covenant or proposed covenant, are, or would be, interconnected bodies corporate:
                        1. any act done to give effect to a provision of a contract, arrangement, or understanding, or to a covenant referred to in paragraph (a).

                          1. Repealed

                          2. Repealed
                          Notes
                          • Section 44(1)(b): repealed, on , by section 10(1) of the Commerce Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 32).
                          • Section 44(1)(e): replaced, on , by section 45(1) of the Standards and Accreditation Act 2015 (2015 No 91).
                          • Section 44(1A): inserted, on , by section 10(2) of the Commerce Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 32).
                          • Section 44(2): repealed, on , by section 34 of the Commerce (Cartels and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 40).
                          • Section 44(3): repealed, on , by section 34 of the Commerce (Cartels and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 40).