HSNO information sheet 8: How does the new Act relate to other Acts?
Integration with other Acts
The Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act 1996 was enacted to reform the management of hazardous substances and new organisms. The Act has been in force for new organisms since July 1998, however, the hazardous substances parts of the Act require the completion of a comprehensive “toolbox” of regulations that give effect to the Act.
The HSNO Act streamlines, coordinates or replaces outdated laws that are complex, confusing, or inadequate. The new Act is designed to integrate with the Acts or legislation listed below. In particular, there are two ways in which the controls on hazardous substances under the HSNO Act and other legislation, relate to each other. These are:
- A requirement to consult when making regulations. Consultation is intended to ensure that the Acts which control particular aspects of hazardous substance use have controls consistent with the property performance requirements specified by the HSNO Act. Such Acts include the Food, Gas, Health and Safety in Employment, Resource Management and Defence Acts, and transport legislation.
- A need to control for different purposes. The same substance may be controlled for different purposes under different Acts. For example, a pesticide controlled under HSNO legislation for its effects on people's health and the environment, may also be controlled under the Agricultural Compounds legislation for the risk it poses to international trade.
Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) Act
The Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) Act overlaps with the HSNO Act because a number of the compounds used in agriculture (such as pesticides) are also hazardous substances. However, the two pieces of legislation address clearly separate outcomes.
The HSNO Act deals with the health and safety of people and the environment, whereas the Agricultural Compounds legislation is directed towards managing risks to trade in primary produce, animal welfare, and agricultural security, and making sure that the use of agricultural compounds complies with residue limits in New Zealand food standards.
Biosecurity Act 1993
The purpose of the Biosecurity Act 1993 is to enable New Zealand to exclude, eradicate or effectively manage pests and unwanted organisms already in the country or to stop them from entering it.
The Biosecurity Act:
- by means of border controls, prevents the introduction of unwanted organisms not already established in New Zealand; and
- through the development of pest management strategies, manages unwanted organisms already established in New Zealand.
In contrast, the HSNO Act is designed so that the deliberate importation, development or release of new organisms into New Zealand may be examined in advance to assess the effects on people and the environment.
Where the Authority approves a new organism to be held in containment, it sets the standards for containment using the third schedule to the HSNO Act. The Biosecurity Act contains the power to approve and monitor specific facilities for containing organisms (eg, for quarantine). Hence the Biosecurity Act is used to approve and monitor the facilities that meet the requirements of the Authority's approval.
The Biosecurity Act does not cover genetic manipulation, so assessing and approving all genetic manipulation work in New Zealand will be done under the HSNO Act.
Building Act 1991 and regulations
The Building Act 1991 provides controls to ensure that buildings are structurally safe, while the HSNO Act sets controls to ensure that specialised containers and buildings can safely contain the hazardous substances that they are designed to hold, for example, explosives magazines and bulk petroleum storage tanks. As currently worded, the HSNO Act amends the Building Act so that these stationary containers and bulk storage tanks are also controlled as buildings under the Building Act. However, an Amendment Bill currently awaiting consideration by the Local Government and Environment Select Committee would reverse this, so that would these structures would be covered completely under the HSNO Act (see Information Sheet no. 11 for more information on the Amendment Bill).
Defence Act 1990 and regulations
When the HSNO Act is in force for hazardous substances, in normal peacetime operation New Zealand’s armed forces will be required to manage hazardous substances to meet the same general or property performance requirements as others responsible for hazardous substance management. As an example, military handling of fuel and flammable solvents must be to the same level of safety as for flammable liquids specified in the HSNO regulations. As military equipment is often significantly different from civilian equipment used to handle similar substances, this will often be done by different methods and so will be directly controlled by orders, regulations and codes specific to the armed forces.
Food legislation
All food sold in New Zealand is subject to the Food Act 1981 and its associated regulations administered by the Ministry of Health. Food controls include standards related to food composition, labelling and packaging. The HSNO Act overlaps with these because food is an important route of exposure to the toxic effects of any hazardous substance used as a pesticide or a food additive.
The HSNO regulations will allow the Environmental Risk Management Authority to set exposure limits on a hazardous substance to address toxic effects that arise from any source of exposure, except for foodstuffs. The Ministry of Health will continue to be the statutory body responsible for setting limits for those substances when they are used in food. This will avoid any unnecessary duplication in the setting of exposure standards in food.
Gas Act 1992
The safe use of fuel gases in systems such as town gas reticulation is controlled under the Gas Act 1992, which is now administered by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. There is an overlap of interest with hazardous substances legislation because these fuel gases are flammable and may also have toxic properties. The HSNO Act provides performance requirements to limit the likelihood of harmful effects from these properties.
This Act also provides for the Environmental Risk Management Authority and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs to consult on gas regulations. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs remains the regulatory authority responsible for setting controls on fuel gases when used as specified under the Gas Act.
Health and Safety in Employment (H&SE) Act 1992 and regulations
There is a strong relationship between the HSNO Act and the Health and Safety in Employment (H&SE) Act 1992 because hazardous substances are often found in workplaces. The HSNO regulations allow the Environmental Risk Management Authority to impose exposure standards for people working with potentially toxic hazardous substances in the workplace. Exposure standards that apply in workplaces need to be different from those that apply to members of the general public, because:
- the duration of exposure may be less due to limited time at work;
- workers may be considered less sensitive to exposure compared with the population in general, because their age structure does not include the very old or very young, and they are often in better health; and
- workers may be assumed to adopt behaviours that prevent or minimise exposure (such as using protective clothing), which cannot be assumed for the public.
It is intended that the Occupational Safety and Health Service (OSH) use the HSNO regulations as controls to ensure worker safety. Similarly, the Environmental Risk Management Authority must consult with OSH and utilise workplace standards already in use when imposing exposure standards for workplaces.
The HSNO Act provides for other sectors (such as workplaces or transport) to consult with the Environmental Risk Management Authority to vary their standards from the HSNO standard, where reasons such as those above apply.
Another area requiring consultation is for the H&SE Act regulations covering hazardous substances and pressure systems (over 300 kPa). Where the equipment uses or contains a hazardous substance, the HSNO regulations for containers will apply in addition to the H&SE requirements on the pressure system.
Local Government Act 1974
Where councils undertake functions under the HSNO Act, section 23 allows them to set their fees and charges under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1974.
Medicines Act 1981
The safe use of substances as medicines is controlled under the Medicines Act 1981, administered by the Ministry of Health. There is an overlap of interest with the HSNO Act because some medicines are also hazardous substances.
The HSNO regulations will apply to the safe transport and storage of medicines in their bulk form. The Medicines Act will control medicines in finished-dose form. Regulations under the Medicines Act will be strengthened in relation to controls for residual hazards presented by finished-dose form medicines, for example, hazards involved with disposal. The Ministry of Health will advise the Environmental Risk Management Authority of approvals issued and controls imposed under the Medicines Act.
Resource Management Act 1991
The HSNO Act provides the means to set conditions on the management of hazardous substances which apply irrespective of location. Conditions to manage the risks at a particular site will continue to be set under the Resource Management Act through the resource consenting process.
Where a local authority imposes conditions under the Resource Management Act, such conditions may only add to the controls imposed under the HSNO Act – they cannot be less than the minimum requirements under the HSNO legislation.
Transport legislation
The safe operation of air, sea and land transport systems is ensured by transport legislation, including the Transport Act, the Land Transport Rules, the Maritime Safety Rules and the Civil Aviation Rules. This raft of legislation requires that:
- ships, aircraft and land vehicles be designed to be safe and maintained in a safe condition;
- operators of ships, aircraft and land vehicles be trained to safely operate them; and
- hazardous substances are contained or packaged to withstand the conditions of transport (eg, loads imposed by a ship rolling at sea or the reduced pressure in an aircraft flying at altitude) and are identified so that they can be correctly managed in transport.
These requirements for hazardous substances listed above and those of the HSNO Act will relate as follows:
- basic vehicle safety requirements for land transport will be covered under the transport legislation requirements. Requirements specific to a hazardous substance (such as corrosion resistance of an acid tank mounted on a truck) will be derived from the HSNO regulations;
- the HSNO regulations set identification standards based on standard international transport labelling and marking requirements, which will supplement the identification requirements contained in the transport legislation;
- transport legislation will require operators to know about and comply with the appropriate requirements of the HSNO Act (this will be demonstrated by hazardous substances endorsements on drivers' licenses, for example); and
- the performance required of hazardous substances packages by regulations under the HSNO Act is derived from the United Nations Recommendations for the Transport of Dangerous Goods. These meet the requirements for land transport. However, other forms of transport require additional precautions as given above, and stricter regulations under the Maritime Safety and Civil Aviation Acts will apply.
Further information
For further information access the ERMA New Zealand website, or contact:
Dr S.R. Vaughan
Project Manager
Tel. 04 917-7404
Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Reform
Ministry for the Environment
PO Box 10362
Wellington
Fax 04 917-7523
