Weenink Vanessa; O'Connor GregFAIR TRADING (GIFT CARD EXPIRY) AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingDr VANESSA WEENINK (National—Banks Peninsula) on behalf of Dan Bidois (National): I move That the Fair Trading (Gift Card Expiry) Amendment Bill be now read a second time.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): The question is that the motion be agreed to.Dr VANESSA WEENINK: It's an honour to open our second reading of the Fair Trading (Gift Card Expiry) Amendment Bill. I'd like to acknowledge the whakapapa of this bill. This bill was originally brought in the name of the Hon Melissa Lee and is now being shepherded through by Dan Bidois. I'd like to take the opportunity to congratulate Dan and his wife Courtney on the birth of their first child Noah. Of course Melissa Lee's ministerial responsibilities necessitated this transfer but the spirit of the bill remains and that is to protect consumers and ensure fairness in our retail landscape.So gift cards and vouchers have become quite a familiar part of our lives. It's a very convenient way to express our appreciation celebrate occasions or simply treat someone. Yet the joy of receiving a gift card can quickly turn bad if it expires before we get a chance to redeem it. So many Kiwis have experienced this firsthand. I know I have and the statistics are sobering: one in five recipients loses out when they fail to redeem the full value of their gift card within the expiry date. Consumer New Zealand gave some great examples to the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee. One that really stuck in my mind was $1500 worth of Mobil vouchers. Someone mistakenly thought that they had two years of expiry when in fact they only had 12 months. The person contacted Mobil but they refused to honour the voucher.Another story was of a woman who received a $180 SkyCity gift card for Christmas in 2022 but due to family plans and illness plans to use it had to be put on hold. Then when she tried to get an extension from SkyCity her request was refused even though apparently SkyCity now sells gift cards valid for three years.I personally have quite an aversion to gift cards because I fail to redeem them. I've pointed out to my loved ones that it's my preference to never receive them but I have gifted them on request or as part of a corporate gift. However in my family cold hard cash is the preference.Hon Members: Hear hear! Cash is king!Dr VANESSA WEENINK: Yeah. So prior to this Parliament 12 submissions were received in the previous select committee and in this parliamentary term the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee reopened for submissions and we heard from eight interested groups and individuals and then we heard from four orally. So I'd like to thank all of the submitters who provided us with much more information to consider. And those considerations really helped us to improve the bill.We were very ably assisted in this process by officials from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment. The Office of the Clerk also gave advice on the bill's legislative quality—and of course Parliamentary Counsel Office. All of these officials were invaluable. Thank you so much for all of your support.So the committee did make some amendments which we think greatly improve the bill. Firstly we clarified the definitions of cards" and "vouchers" and also outlined some of the specific exclusions.Some of those exclusions include where a card or voucher is provided in substitution for returned goods "open loop" cards—for example cards that can be topped up; one for example is a Prezzy card. Another exclusion is where cards are provided as part of a customer loyalty programme. However for an example if that programme allows you to collect points and then exchange the points for a card the card then would be subject to the law.Another exclusion was where the card or voucher is provided as a fund-raising activity for a charity. Also where there's a short-term event like a festival or a concert those are not applied. We also thought that it might be possible that some devices could also work as a voucher or card—for example wristbands. In fact any object could have a chip or a barcode attached to it which could serve as a token for a voucher redeemable for gifts or services. So this provision prevents any attempt to avoid the expiry rules by providing a different object.We decided that it should be an infringement offence to contravene the new sections of the Act and that fines not exceeding $10000 should apply for an individual or $30000 for an organisation. Having it as an infringement notice means that each instance of a breach could be considered and its own penalties apply. We think that that would therefore provide a very stiff incentive to comply with the law.We have allowed for a transition period so that providers can adjust to the rules and not inadvertently get stuck with pre-printed made cards. We expect that most providers who are able would start to comply with the law as soon as possible and we heard through the submissions process that some are already doing that.I was particularly interested in the submission from Consumer New Zealand. In 2016 they launched a gift card campaign and then in 2022 they did a review of 61 gift cards. They found that 14 of them had 12-month expiry dates one had an 18-month expiry 19 of them had a two-year expiry six of them had a three-year expiry one had a four-year expiry six of them had five-year expiries and a whole 14 had no expiry date. So accounting practices in business are very important and gift cards can show up as a liability on businesses. So it was very important that there be opportunities for businesses to be able to work through their processes and transfer those liabilities.We didn't have unanimous support for the bill on the committee but there was a very clear majority support. We think that we've made sensible changes to the bill and allowing that no gift cards should be provided that are not within the three-year expiry will make very useful changes for consumers and more people will be able to fully redeem their vouchers. We will not be stuck in the situation where tens of millions of dollars of gift cards are going begging each year.This is a win for consumers in New Zealand and this is another way that this Government is getting this country back on track.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): The question is that the motion be agreed to."