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Fair Trading (Gift Card Expiry) Amendment Bill (Consistent) [2022] NZBORARp 66 (15 November 2022)

Last Updated: 26 November 2022

15 November 2022

LEGAL ADVICE

LPA 01 01 24

Hon David Parker, Attorney-General

Consistency with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990: Fair Trading (Gift Card Expiry) Amendment Bill

1. We have considered whether the Fair Trading (Gift Card Expiry) Amendment Bill (the Bill), a member’s Bill in the name of Melissa Lee MP, is consistent with the rights and freedoms affirmed in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (the Bill of Rights Act).
2. The purpose of the Bill is to give the recipient of a gift card a more reasonable period in which to redeem its full value.
3. To achieve this, the Bill will amend the Fair Trading Act 1986 to:
   1. prohibit the selling of certain gift cards, as prescribed in the Bill, with an expiry date of less than 3 years after the initial sale date; and
   2. ensure that, if a gift card with a prohibited expiry date is sold to a consumer, the expiry date will be taken to be 3 years after the initial sale date.
4. We have concluded that the Bill appears to be consistent with the rights and freedoms affirmed in the Bill of Rights Act.
   

Edrick Child

Acting Chief Legal Counsel Office of Legal Counsel