Overseas Building Products Bill introduced

“This Bill aims to increase competition and reduce the cost of building products, improve the country’s resilience to supply chain shortages and give homeowners, builders and designers more choice in products and systems already available and in use overseas,” says Suzannah Toulmin, Manager Consenting and Practitioners Policy 

The changes target each level of the building product assurance system - standards, certification schemes and compliance pathways - and deliver the greatest overall benefit by:

• Enabling recognition of overseas standards and standards certification schemes, therefore removing the need for designers, builders or Building Consent Authorities (BCAs) to verify standards. 
• Streamlining the citing of international standards with the new Building Product Specification, which can be used with Building Code documents to show compliance with the Building Code.
• Requiring BCAs to accept building products certified overseas and recognised by the regulator, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

“BCAs will still need to assess proposed building work to ensure products are being used for their stated purpose and that the building will comply with the Building Code to ensure our homes and buildings are healthy, safe and durable,” says Suzannah. 

“The First Reading of the Bill has been set down for later this month, after which it will be referred to the Select Committee for consideration, the public will have an opportunity to engage with this process,” said Suzannah. 

The Transport and Infrastructure Select Committee website will have information on the select committee process.

Transport and Infrastructure(external link) — New Zealand Parliament

You can read the Ministers press release on the Beehive website.

More choice and competition in building products(external link) — Beehive.govt.nz

You can read the Building (Overseas Building Products, Standards, and Certification Schemes) Amendment Bill and view its progress through the legislative process on the New Zealand Parliament website.

Building (Overseas Building Products, Standards, and Certification Schemes) Amendment Bill(external link) — New Zealand Parliament