Unfair commercial practices

Fair Trading Amendment Act

In August 2021, Parliament passed the Fair Trading Amendment Act 2021, which introduces new protections against unfair conduct and unfair business-to-business contract terms.

The Amendment Act:

• introduces a prohibition against unconscionable conduct relating to the supply or acquisition of goods or services.
• extends the existing protections against unfair contract terms in standard form consumer contract terms to also apply to standard form business contracts with a value below $250,000 in a year.
• strengthens the ability of consumers to require uninvited sellers to leave, or not enter, their residential premises, including through the use of written signs such as ‘Do Not Knock’ stickers. These decisions were made as part of the Government’s review of consumer credit law in 2018.

Changes to consumer credit law 2020

These changes come into effect on 16 August 2022.

Read the Amendment Act on the New Zealand Legislation website.

Fair Trading Amendment Act 2021(external link) — New Zealand Legislation 

The Commerce Commission is developing guidance on these changes.

Background: policy decisions

Between December 2018 and February 2019, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) consulted on options to introduce new protections against unfair conduct and unfair business-to-business contract terms.

View the discussion paper and submissions

You can read more about the changes in these documents: