What smoking laws are there in New Zealand?
Can I complain if someone is smoking in my office?
What smoking laws are there in New Zealand?
New Zealand has a number of laws aimed at reducing smoking. We have tobacco control legislation, which includes bans on tobacco advertising and sponsorship as well as the sale of cigarettes to people under 18 years old.
Smoking is not allowed in many places. You’re not allowed to smoke on public transport, and all indoor workplaces have to be smoke-free. The Smoke-free Environments Act states that bars, restaurants, casinos, clubs, factories, warehouses, work canteens, schools and early childhood centres and their grounds have to be smoke-free 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
You can look at the smoke-free legislation website to find out more.
Can I complain if someone is smoking in my office?
If you think there has been a breach of the smoke-free legislation at your workplace, you can complain
- you should first make a complaint to your employer
- your employer has 20 working days to investigate if there has been a breach of the Act, and to try to resolve the complaint
- the representatives of the employees in the workplace are allowed to and should sit in on any meetings about the complaint
- if 40 working days pass and still no solution has been agreed to, your employer has to send the complaint, in writing, to the Director-General of Health.
You can contact a smoke-free officer at your local public health service – you can find the nearest officer in your region by looking on the Ministry of Health website.