Proposed amendments to the Biosecurity Act

Updates

29 October 2025 – Amendments planned to the Biosecurity Act 1993

An amendment bill will be introduced and referred to a Parliamentary select committee for people to provide feedback. The bill is scheduled to be introduced to Parliament in 2026.

We've released the Cabinet paper about the proposed amendments and related documents.

Proactive release

Cabinet paper: Biosecurity Act Amendment Bill – Policy approvals [PDF, 985 KB]

Minute: Biosecurity Act Amendment Bill – Policy Approvals [PDF, 103 KB]

Appendix 1: Policy proposals for approval for a Biosecurity Act Amendment Bill [PDF, 8.5 MB]

Appendix 2: Policy proposals which will be presented to Cabinet in a second tranche [PDF, 872 KB]

Appendix 3: Proposed amendments to the Biosecurity Act 1993 – Regulatory Impact Statement [PDF, 25 MB]

Media release

$60 billion industry protected with biosecurity improvements – Beehive

20 March 2025 – Summary of submissions released

Following this consultation that closed on 13 December 2024, we've released the summary of submissions.

Summary of submissions: Consultation on proposed amendments to the Biosecurity Act 1993 [PDF, 1.5 MB]

5 November 2024 – Consultation extended

The minister has announced an extension to this consultation. It now closes on 13 December 2024.

Consultation background

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) completed a review of the Biosecurity Act 1993. We then developed a range of proposals to update and modernise the Act, and your views were essential to understand the impacts each proposal might have.

Our suggested changes related to 6 topics, each of which had a discussion document setting out the proposals.

Discussion documents

Overview [PDF, 622 KB]
This document provides the context and background of the review work carried out to develop these proposals.
System-wide issues [PDF, 811 KB]
Proposals under this topic relate to purpose provisions in the Biosecurity Act, ministerial involvement in significant decisions, local knowledge in decision-making, biometric Information, and enforcing the law.
Funding and compensation [PDF, 729 KB]
These proposals seek to improve how the biosecurity system is funded, and relate to cost-sharing arrangements under the Government Industry Agreement, cost recovery from non-signatory beneficiaries, and compensation.
Border and imports [PDF, 723 KB]
Proposals for this area aim to strengthen biosecurity processes at the border and improve the Import Health Standard (IHS) system. The proposals relate to IHS processes, passenger processing, transitional and containment facilities, and biosecurity control areas.
Readiness and response [PDF, 571 KB]
These proposals aim to strengthen how the biosecurity system prepares for and responds to biosecurity threats once they have arrived in New Zealand. Proposals include changing the Government Industry Agreement partnership, emergency declarations, and biosecurity practices.
Long-term management [PDF, 1.3 MB]
Proposals here relate to strengthening the pest and pathway management system. They recommend making it easier to create pest and pathway management plans, better long-term management outcomes, better management of unwanted and notifiable organisms, and changing definitions related to unauthorised goods.
Surveillance and legislative interfaces [PDF, 393 KB]
The focus here is on surveillance, and improving how the Biosecurity Act interacts with other legislation, including Freshwater Fisheries Regulations, the Marine Mammals Protection Act, and the Wild Animal Control Act.

Information sheets

Additional information and documents

Each discussion document had a regulatory impact statement. They provided a high-level summary of the problem being addressed, the options and their costs and benefits, the consultation undertaken and the proposed arrangements for implementation and review. You did not need to read these to make a submission but they may have provided extra context.

Regulatory impact statements

Submissions are public information

Note that all, part, or a summary of your submission may be published on this website. Most often this happens when we issue a document that reviews the submissions received.

People can also ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we must make the content of submissions available unless we have good reason for withholding it. Those reasons are detailed in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.

If you think there are grounds to withhold specific information from publication, make this clear in your submission or contact us. Reasons may include that it discloses commercially sensitive or personal information. However, any decision MPI makes to withhold details can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may direct us to release it.

Official Information Act 1982 – NZ Legislation