Civil Defence Emergency Management Amendment Act

The Civil Defence Emergency Management Amendment Act 2016 enables the recovery from emergencies to be more efficient and effective.

Although its focus is on recovery from small to medium events, the Amendment Act is not limited to these types of emergencies. Its provisions can be used in a large scale emergency until any bespoke legislation is created.

The Amendment Act amends the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act to:

establish a legislative framework for recovery management, by providing a mandate for recovery managers and by strengthening the requirement to plan for recovery
support a seamless transition from response into the initial recovery phase, by establishing a transition notice mechanism that will make some emergency powers available for a specified period of time (local or national transition period), and
makes some minor and technical amendments to improve the Act, and consequential amendments to other legislation and the National Civil Defence Emergency Management Plan Order 2015.

The Civil Defence Emergency Management Amendment Act 2016 was due to come into force 180 days after Royal Assent on 15 November 2016. However, it was brought forward by the Civil Defence Emergency Management Amendment Act 2016 Amendment Act 2016 which was passed on 29 November 2016 under urgency to assist with recovery from the Hurunui/Kaikoura earthquakes.