This bill is Part 7 and Schedules 4 to 6 of the omnibus Contracts of Insurance Bill, divided into a separate bill at the committee stage as the omnibus bill's general policy statement anticipated. That policy statement describes insurance contract law as fragmented across six Acts, some over 100 years old, and sets a single broad policy of reforming, consolidating, and modernising it. The parent bill brings together requirements from the Life Insurance Act 1908, Part 3 of the Law Reform Act 1936, the Insurance Law Reform Acts 1977 and 1985, and the Insurance Intermediaries Act 1994; this companion bill carries the repeals of the superseded legislation and the consequential amendments to other Acts needed for the new Contracts of Insurance regime to operate. Its third reading was taken together with the Contracts of Insurance Bill's in a single combined vote on 13 November 2024.
This bill carries the repeals and consequential amendments needed to bring a new, consolidated insurance-contract-law regime into operation, as the companion to the main Contracts of Insurance Bill. Insurance contract law has been fragmented across six Acts, some more than a century old, and the reform consolidates and modernises it. This bill repeals the superseded statutes, including the Life Insurance Act 1908, the Insurance Law Reform Acts 1977 and 1985, and the Insurance Intermediaries Act 1994, and amends other Acts so the new regime can operate.
As a repeals-and-amendments companion, it is largely mechanical, ensuring the statute book works with the new Contracts of Insurance framework. Discussion of the substance of the reform attaches mainly to the parent bill it supports.
See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.