Residency test is broader and encompasses factors such as ties to New Zealand and the regularity of times spent there.

NZ petroleum exploration will be a non-notified discretionary activity, so there is no scope for public submissions.

Discussion of Securities Law Review now in the final phases.

The proposed exemptions will remove some considerable duplication in the AML requirements for financial intermediaries.

Recent Australian decision regarding DOCAs will influence NZ voluntary administration regime.

The decision was welcomed by insolvency practitioners after the Court of Appeal had previously upset industry practice.

A FMA survey indicates a certain amount of churn in the life insurance industry, to the possible detriment of consumers.

Directors and insurers can take heart from an Australian judgment that defence costs can be paid out of D&O policies.

It is likely that the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership will be finalised and signed in early 2018.

The blue skies review into urban planning has now left the runway.

The proposed NPS requires councils in high population growth areas to provide a buffer within their land release plans.

MBIE is consulting on the regulations and a new methodology for identifying and managing earthquake-prone buildings.

Leniency programmes offer discounted fines to parties who confess their anti-competitive behaviour and cooperate.

These changes will be particularly relevant to listed issuers and to companies with a large number of shareholders.

NZ is popular for shell companies, so the regulatory balance between efficiency and integrity may not yet be correct.

The EPA came into existence on 1 October last year as an office within the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) tasked with managing and administering the new call-in processes for "nationally significant" projects under the Resource Management Act (RMA).

The case notes that an order under s.295 of the Companies Act is required before a creditor is indebted to liquidators.

NZ is attractive for foreign direct investment, despite having the seventh most restrictive screening regime in the OECD.

The 'greenshoe' option is included in almost all US IPOs, but it cannot guarantee against a fall in the share price.

The Brief Counsel looks at summary offences in the new CM amendment bill and at the High Court's findings about the MTA.