Current Situation

New Zealand’s regulations for Natural Health Products (NHPs) are decades out of date, broken and no longer fit for purpose. Over many years various attempts at regulatory reform have failed.

• In 2017, the Labour / NZ First Government removed the Natural Health and Supplementary Products Bill from the order paper despite it having passed the Second Reading stage and with years of consultation and public submissions.
• In 2021, Cabinet decided to regulate NHPs under the Therapeutic Products Bill.
• On 19 July 2023 the Therapeutic Products Bill passed its third reading in the House.

Therapeutic Products Bill Passes Third Reading

The Therapeutic Products Bill passed its third reading in the house on 19 July 2023.  This means it has now passed through all stages of the parliamentary process and is awaiting royal assent where the Governor-General will pass the Bill into law. This process will occur in the next day or two and the Bill will then become the Act.

Whilst we still have serious concerns with the implementation of the Bill, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the decades of work done by so many within Natural Health Products NZ to move beyond the outdated and restrictive dietary supplements regulations.

Now that the legislation has passed, we are expecting the Minister and her officials to engage meaningfully on the regulations that follow.

We will be working hard to ensure that these regulations are as workable as possible, that the secondary legislation is truly fit-for-purpose.

READ: Media Release – 20 July 2023 Government must engage with natural health sector to make urgent legislation work

What is Natural Health Products NZ doing?

Natural Health Products NZ’s Government Affairs team have been working intensively with officials and ministers over the past year, with our primary objectives being to achieve a modern, fit-for-purpose regulatory regime that:

• Assures safety and quality in a risk proportionate manner
• Enables appropriate, evidence-based health claims that fully inform consumers about the function of products
• Removes export barriers by demonstrating New Zealand has world-class regulatory, compliance and audit systems
• Enables the industry to expand faster, innovate, employ more people and contribute more to the economy, especially in the regions
• Makes it harder for non-compliant products to be marketed and sold here

Members will be consulted fully on all aspects of the secondary legislation, including:

• Permitted Ingredients list
• Manufacturing guidelines
• Conditions List
• Evidence Requirements
• etc

What is the Government doing?

The Government must now establish a new, independent regulator to oversee the regime and attention turns to secondary legislation.  The Government has stated several times that stakeholders will be consulted on Rules and Regulations now the Bill has passed.

READ: Minister of Health’s Press Release 19 July 2023: New era for therapeutic products regulation

Ministry of Health newsletters:

Therapeutic & Natural Health Products update

• July 2023
• June 2023
• February 2023
• Earlier newsletters can be accessed HERE

Contacting the MOH team

• If you’d like to get in touch, please email therapeuticproducts@health.govt.nz.
• If you, or someone you know would be interested in receiving these MOH updates, you can subscribe via the Ministry of Health website.

When can I provide feedback?

The Bill has passed and will shortly gain Royal Assent and become the Therapeutic Products Act.  There’s no opportunity to make further changes to the Bill.

However, we expect industry will be fully consulted during the development of the Rules and Regulations.

Members can find more information in the Regulations – Latest Updates page (requires login).