The Government has accepted a series of recommendations aimed at simplifying New Zealand’s product labelling rules, including establishing a national standard for digital labels and bringing requirements for over-the-counter medicines closer into line with Australia.
Regulation Minister David Seymour announced the completion of the Ministry for Regulation’s Product Labelling Review, which examined whether existing requirements were imposing unnecessary costs on exporters and discouraging overseas suppliers from selling products in New Zealand.
Under the first changes approved by the Government, businesses will be given greater scope to use digital labelling to provide product information. A national standard will be developed setting out what information can be provided digitally and what must continue to appear on physical packaging.
Physical labels will not be replaced under the proposal, with digital labelling instead becoming an additional option for businesses.
Seymour said the absence of a national standard had created uncertainty for companies considering digital alternatives.
“Currently there is no digital labelling standard in New Zealand,” he said. “This makes it risky for companies to use digital labels, because they don’t know what information can be conveyed digitally or what needs to remain on a physical label.”
The Government estimates the digital labelling changes could produce approximately $111 million in net benefits over 10 years, largely through reduced compliance costs and greater flexibility for businesses operating across different international markets.
Changes will also be made to labelling requirements for over-the-counter medicines. Products sold in Australian pharmacies can currently require additional or altered labelling before being placed on the New Zealand market.
The Government intends to align New Zealand’s requirements more closely with Australian standards, reducing the number of OTC medicines requiring labels specifically produced for the New Zealand market.
Seymour said New Zealand’s relatively small consumer market meant additional compliance costs could influence whether overseas manufacturers and suppliers chose to offer products here.
“If over the counter medical products are good enough for people across the ditch, they’re good enough for us,” he said. “We will be aligning product labelling requirements with Australia.”
The Government says the change could make it easier for international suppliers to introduce OTC medicines into New Zealand while potentially increasing the range of products available to consumers.
The Product Labelling Review also contains further recommendations, but the Government has yet to make decisions on those proposals.
Suspicious
Think reversal to anything your government does for your convenience these days.
Digitizing labeling will allow Orwelling ‘memory hole’: instantaneous changing – just like the screw ups of digital labels at the supermarket.
No phone , no information, must submit to be tracked 24/7 so you can find out whats in the shit you are buying from these arseholes
Manufacturers of medicines are still allowed to hide the amount of sugar contained in the over the counter medicines that they sell. This adversely impacts on the health of New Zealanders in general, and diabetics in particular.. Medsafe and the parliamentary health committee are both aware but unlike the food safety authority, who oblige food manufacturers to disclose sugar/caebohydrate content in foodstuffs, are content to turn a blind eye. Sadly these new labelling regulations are not about health, they’re simply for the convenience of the pharmaceutical industry and do nothing to improve New Zealanders rights to make informed choices when it comes to personal health.. If sugar is in in medicines let consumers know hoe much!