Carter Chris: Third Readings 
Carter Chris: Third Readings 
[Volume:625;Page:19830] 
Hon CHRIS CARTER (Minister for Building Issues) 
 on behalf of the  
Minister of Commerce: 
 I move  
That the Building Amendment Bill (No 3) the Commerce Amendment Bill (No 4) the Copyright Amendment Bill and the Health Amendment Bill be now read a third time.  
This legislation corrects an unintended effect that resulted from the inclusion of an additional section in three Acts: the Building Act of 2004 the Commerce Act of 1986 and the Health Act of 1956. All those Acts require that when material has been incorporated by reference those with delegated or statutory responsibility must make that material free of charge on the Internet. 
In terms of the Building Act to avoid the potentially negative effects that these requirements have the legislation removes the obligation of the chief executive of the Department of Building and Housing to make available free of charge on the Internet material incorporated by reference. This provision is replaced with a requirement on the chief executive to make available for inspection free of charge at all the department’s regional offices key material incorporated by reference in regulations and compliance documents including standards used by building practitioners in areas such as the use of timber and concrete in the construction of buildings the design of buildings using timber and concrete plumbing installation access for persons with disabilities and energy efficiency. In addition the chief executive must make available for inspection free of charge at the department’s Wellington office all material incorporated by reference. All material will also be available for purchase at all the department’s offices. By amending the Building Act in this way the Government has endeavoured to strike a balance between the facilitation of access to material incorporated by reference and the legitimate commercial interests of the owners of copyright in standards and other material that may be incorporated by reference. 
For the same reasons I have just outlined the legislation also amends the Health Act and the Commerce Act in order to remove the positive obligation on the Director-General of Health and the chairperson of the Commerce Commission to make material incorporated by reference available free of charge on the Internet. That obligation has been replaced with a provision that allows the director-general or chairperson to make material incorporated by reference available in any other way he or she may consider appropriate in the circumstances. Neither currently incorporates material by reference and neither has any plans to do so but the amendments in this legislation future-proof those Acts. In addition to the amendments I have just outlined the legislation also amends the Copyright Act to clarify that the non-Crown copyright is affected when material subject to copyright is incorporated by reference into legislation. All these amendments ensure that the standards development process in New Zealand can remain up to date with international best practice. In addition they ensure that the development of joint standards by Australia and New Zealand can continue by ensuring that domestic and international copyright is given appropriate protection. 
As implementation of the Building Act took effect some small anomalies and technical errors were identified. Most important there has been some debate around section 363 relating to the occupation of public buildings. These have been rectified by this legislation to make the Building Act more effective. I thank United Future for its support in this very worthwhile enterprise. 
I commend this legislation to the House.