New Zealand maritime law has recently undergone its most significant updating and restructuring since the 1950s. The reform process began with the introduction of the Transport Law Reform Bill 1993, an omnibus measure which covered air, land and maritime transport. Those parts of the Bill which dealt primarily with the restructuring of transport regulation were enacted separately as the Maritime Transport Act 1993, the Land Transport Act 1993 and the Civil Aviation Amendment Act 1993. After the 1993 General Elections, the remainder of the Transport Law Reform Bill was redrafted and renamed the Maritime Transport Bill 1994. The Maritime Transport Bill was further split at the Committee stage, and was finally enacted as the Maritime Transport Act 1994 (which consequentially repeals and incorporates the Maritime Transport Act 1993), the Mercantile Law Amendment Act 1994 and the Resource Management Amendment Act 1994. These three Acts received the Royal Assent on 17 November 1994. As the Acts cover a very wide area, only some of the more important reforms will be highlighted here.1

The Maritime Transport Act completes the restructuring of transport regulation in New Zealand by transferring the Ministry of Transport’s former regulatory functions to the Maritime Safety Authority, a Crown entity the principal objective of which is to undertake regulatory activities which promote a safe maritime environment, and provide effective marine pollution prevention and oil pollution response systems, at a reasonable cost.2 The Authority’s specific functions include ensuring the provision of marine communication systems and navigational aids; licensing ships, their operation and their crews; ensuring seafarers’ occupational health and safety; investigating marine accidents in conjunction with the Transport Accident Investigation Commission; and maintaining the New Zealand ship register. The Authority’s chief executive, the Director of Maritime Safety, is responsible for administering regulatory systems established under the Maritime Transport Act. One of the Authority’s more significant tasks will be to develop and implement tertiary delegated legislation in the form of maritime rules. Such rules (which will give effect to most of the detailed technical rules and safety standards, while ordinary statutory regulations will provide for general fees and charges, offences and penalties) are said to be necessary because the traditional system of promulgating regulations cannot keep pace with rapid technological and organizational developments.3