Consumer Guarantees Act 1993

2 Interpretation

• (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

  acquire,—

  • (a) in relation to goods, means obtain by way of gift, purchase, or exchange; and also means take on lease, hire, or hire purchase:

  • (b) in relation to services, includes accept

  business means—

  • (a) any undertaking whether carried on for gain or reward or not; or

  • (b) any undertaking in the course of which—

    • (i) goods or services are acquired or supplied; or

    • (ii) any interest in land is acquired or disposed of—

    whether free of charge or not

  consumer means a person who—

  • (a) acquires from a supplier goods or services of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic, or household use or consumption; and

  • (b) does not acquire the goods or services, or hold himself or herself out as acquiring the goods or services, for the purpose of—

    • (i) resupplying them in trade; or

    • (ii) consuming them in the course of a process of production or manufacture; or

    • (iii) in the case of goods, repairing or treating in trade other goods or fixtures on land

  express guarantee, in relation to any goods, means an undertaking, assertion, or representation in relation to—

  • (a) the quality, performance, or characteristics of the goods; or

  • (b) the provision of services that are or may at any time be required in respect of the goods; or

  • (c) the supply of parts that are or may at any time be required for the goods; or

  • (d) the future availability of identical goods, or of goods constituting or forming part of a set of which the goods in relation to which the undertaking, assertion, or representation is given or made form part—

  given or made in connection with the supply of the goods or in connection with the promotion by any means of the supply or use of the goods

  goods—

  • (a) means personal property of every kind (whether tangible or intangible), other than money and choses in action; and

  • (b) includes—

    • (i) goods attached to, or incorporated in, any real or personal property:

    • (ii) ships, aircraft, and vehicles:

    • (iii) animals, including fish:

    • (iv) minerals, trees, and crops, whether on, under, or attached to land or not:

    • (v) electricity and gas:

    • (vi) to avoid doubt, water and computer software; but

  • (c) despite paragraph (b)(i), does not include a whole building, or part of a whole building, attached to land unless the building is a structure that is easily removable and is not designed for residential accommodation

  manufacturer means a person that carries on the business of assembling, producing, or processing goods, and includes—

  • (a) any person that holds itself out to the public as the manufacturer of the goods:

  • (b) any person that attaches its brand or mark or causes or permits its brand or mark to be attached, to the goods:

  • (c) where goods are manufactured outside New Zealand and the foreign manufacturer of the goods does not have an ordinary place of business in New Zealand, a person that imports or distributes those goods

  ordinary place of business in New Zealand, in relation to a manufacturer, does not include a New Zealand subsidiary of a foreign manufacturer

  ownership, in relation to goods, means the general property in the goods

  person includes a local authority, every public body, and any association of persons whether incorporated or not

  price includes valuable consideration in any form

  security includes charge and encumbrance

  services—

  • (a) includes any rights (including rights in relation to, and interests in, personal property), benefits, privileges, or facilities that are, or are to be, provided, granted, or conferred by a supplier; and

  • (b) includes (without limitation) the rights, benefits, privileges, or facilities that are, or are to be, provided, granted, or conferred by a supplier under any of the following classes of contract:

    • (i) a contract for, or in relation to, the performance of work (including work of a professional nature), whether with or without the supply of goods:

    • (ii) a contract for, or in relation to, the provision in trade of facilities for accommodation, amusement, the care of persons or animals or things, entertainment, instruction, parking, or recreation:

    • (iii) a contract of insurance, including life assurance and life reassurance:

    • (iv) a contract between a bank and a customer of the bank:

    • (v) a contract for, or in relation to, the lending of money or granting of credit, or the making of arrangements for the lending of money or granting of credit, or the buying or discounting of a credit instrument, or the acceptance of deposits:

    • (vi) a contract for, or in relation to, the supply of electricity, gas, telecommunications, or water, or the removal of waste water; but

  • (c) does not include—

    • (i) any rights, benefits, privileges, or facilities that are, or are to be, provided, granted, or conferred by a supplier by simply paying or crediting any money to the consumer without the performance of any other task (other than one that is merely incidental to the making of the payment or credit); and

    • (ii) rights or benefits in the form of the supply of goods or the performance of work under a contract of service

  subsidiary has the same meaning as in sections 5 and 6 of the Companies Act 1993

  supplier—

  • (a) means a person who, in trade,—

    • (i) supplies goods to a consumer by—

      • (A) transferring the ownership or the possession of the goods under a contract of sale, exchange, lease, hire, or hire purchase to which that person is a party; or

      • (B) transferring the ownership of the goods as the result of a gift from that person; or

      • (C) transferring the ownership or possession of the goods as directed by an insurer; or

    • (ii) supplies services to an individual consumer or a group of consumers (whether or not the consumer is a party, or the consumers are parties, to a contract with the person); and

  • (b) includes,—

    • (i) where the rights of the supplier have been transferred by assignment or by operation of law, the person for the time being entitled to those rights:

    • (ii) a creditor within the meaning of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 who has lent money on the security of goods supplied to a consumer, if the whole or part of the price of the goods is to be paid out of the proceeds of the loan and if the loan was arranged by a person who, in trade, supplied the goods:

    • (iii) a person who, in trade, assigns or procures the assignment of goods to a creditor within the meaning of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 to enable the creditor to supply those goods, or goods of that kind, to the consumer:

    • (iv) a person who, in trade, is acting as an agent for another, whether or not that other is supplying in trade; and

  • (c) for the avoidance of doubt in the following circumstances, means only,—

    • (i) in the case of a supply of electricity as a good, the retailer of the electricity with whom the consumer has a contract; and

    • (ii) in the case of a supply of electricity line function services, the distributor who owns or operates the line that is connected to the consumer's premises; and

    • (iii) in the case of other services relating to electricity, the person who provides that service to the consumer

  supply,—

  • (a) in relation to goods, means supply (or resupply) by way of gift, sale, exchange, lease, hire, or hire purchase; and

  • (b) in relation to services, means provide, grant, or confer

  trade means any trade, business, industry, profession, occupation, activity of commerce, or undertaking relating to the supply or acquisition of goods or services.

  (2) In any case where it is necessary under this Act to determine the time at which a guarantee in this Act commences to apply,—

  • (a) goods shall be treated as supplied at the time when the consumer acquires the right to possess the goods:

  • (b) services shall be treated as supplied at the time when they are provided, granted, or conferred.

  Compare: 1971 No 147 s 2; 1986 No 121 s 2; Trade Practices Act 1974 ss 4B, 74A(1), (3), (4) (Aust); Consumer Products Warranties Act 1977 s 2(h) (Saskatchewan)

  Section 2(1) goods: substituted, on 8 July 2003, by section 3 of the Consumer Guarantees Amendment Act 2003 (2003 No 33).

  Section 2(1) services: substituted, on 8 July 2003, by section 3 of the Consumer Guarantees Amendment Act 2003 (2003 No 33).

  Section 2(1) subsidiary: substituted, on 1 July 1994, by section 2 of the Company Law Reform (Transitional Provisions) Act 1994 (1994 No 16).

  Section 2(1) supplier: substituted, on 8 July 2003, by section 3 of the Consumer Guarantees Amendment Act 2003 (2003 No 33).

  Section 2(1) supplier paragraph (b)(ii): substituted, on 1 April 2005, by section 139 of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 (2003 No 52).

  Section 2(1) supplier paragraph (b)(iii): substituted, on 1 April 2005, by section 139 of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 (2003 No 52).