Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Amendment Bill
This bill changes the rules around how companies and researchers get permission to bring hazardous chemicals or new types of plants and animals into New Zealand. It aims to make the approval process faster and clearer, lets companies pay fees to fund the regulator, creates a temporary permit system for chemicals already approved overseas, and gives the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) more tools to check and enforce the rules. Ordinary people are unlikely to notice direct changes, but the bill affects how quickly products like pesticides and medicines can be approved for use in New Zealand.
What this affects
Tap a topic to see how this bill touches it, and the parts of the text that show it.
The bill changes how chemicals and new types of animals or plants get approved for use in New Zealand, aiming to make approvals faster while keeping safety checks in place.
to enable greater reliance on assessments relating to hazardous substances that are undertaken by recognised international regulators
to update provisions on persistent organic pollutants for better alignment with the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (to which New Zealand is a party)
Progress through Parliament
Have your say
This bill is open for public submissions to the Primary Production Committee. Anyone can tell the committee what they think, and you don’t need to be an expert. Submissions close 14 June 2026.
Bill text sourced from legislation.govt.nz (Parliamentary Counsel Office). Arapono’s summary and breakdown are drafted with AI grounded in that official text and reviewed by an Arapono editor for accuracy and neutrality before publishing. Arapono is non-partisan and takes no position on this bill.