Five Million Voices

Should the Therapeutic Products Act 2023 be repealed before its regulatory framework took effect?

The bill repeals the Therapeutic Products Act 2023, which would have created a unified regulatory framework for medicines, medical devices, and natural health products. Existing regulation under the Medicines Act 1981 (administered by Medsafe) continues to apply.

⚡ Taken under urgency

Parliament advanced this bill under urgency (committee of whole house, first reading, second reading, third reading) — moving it through faster than usual, with less time than normal for public submissions.

MPs’ arguments for and against the bill

Why support it
  • Supporters argued the repealed Act would have imposed unnecessary cost and regulatory hurdles, particularly on low-risk and natural health products, reducing their accessibility.
  • Supporters said the Act required New Zealand market authorisation for exported medical devices and natural health products despite international compliance, which would have discouraged exports.
  • Supporters argued repealing the Act allows the Government to develop better-balanced legislation, including a stand-alone bill for natural health products and a new Medical Products Bill.
Why oppose it
  • Opponents argued the repeal returns medicines regulation to the outdated Medicines Act 1981, which they said lacks the ability to expedite approval of vaccines during public health emergencies such as COVID-19 and monkeypox.
  • Opponents said the Act provided a framework to regulate medical devices, citing harms from products like surgical mesh, and that repeal leaves that gap unaddressed.
  • Opponents argued much of the Act was already supported across parties and provided risk-proportionate regulation and wider prescribing rights, so repealing it discards decades of work rather than amending the disputed parts.

These are claims MPs made in Parliament’s debate — not verified facts.

Full bill summary & link to official bill page

This bill repeals the Therapeutic Products Act 2023, a law that would have created a single, comprehensive regulatory system covering medicines, medical devices, and natural health products under a new regulator. Repealing it means that regime does not come into effect, so regulation of medicines continues under the older Medicines Act 1981, administered by Medsafe, while natural health products remain comparatively lightly regulated. It affects manufacturers, importers, retailers, and consumers of medicines, medical devices, and natural health supplements.

The repeal fulfils commitments in the National–New Zealand First and National–ACT coalition agreements. Supporters, including much of the natural-health sector, argued the 2023 Act was too broad and would have over-regulated low-risk products such as dietary supplements, imposing heavy compliance costs — the large majority of public submissions opposed the original Act. The argument against repeal is that the older Medicines Act is widely seen as outdated, so removing the new framework leaves gaps — particularly around medical devices and natural health products — until replacement legislation is developed.

See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.

Oppose (No) Support (Yes)

Therapeutic Products Act Repeal Bill · Third Reading, 10 Dec 2024
Parliament voted 68–37 — it passed.