Repeal of the Therapeutic Products Act 2023 – What does this mean?

Katrina Borthwick - 19 February 2024

Previously I wrote about the Therapeutic Products Act which was due to replace the Medicines Act 1981 and the Dietary Supplements Regulations 1985. The NZ Skeptics Society made a written and oral submission.

Although the Act didn’t offer the protections we hoped for, it did start to establish a framework for regulating the safety (albeit not the efficacy) of therapeutic products. The Bill passed into law in July and was due to come into effect in the future after the establishment of regulations to support it.

One of the first actions of the new coalition government was to repeal the Act. That means the outdated legislation will remain in place and any issues with therapeutic products including natural health therapies, will need to be addressed under the existing legislation.

Dietary supplement vs food?

Dietary supplements are substance(s) for oral use that are packed in a controlled dosage form and are intended to supplement the intake of that substance(s) normally derived from food. Dietary supplements cannot have a stated or implied therapeutic purpose - the definition of a therapeutic purpose is given in the Medicines Act 1981. Dietary supplements fall under the Food Act 2014. The Food Act requires import of all food for sale to be via a Registered Food Importer. If you are importing dietary supplements you must register as an importer with the Ministry for Primary Industries which has responsibility for administering the Food Act 2014.

Pathways for addressing issues with natural health therapies

• NZE Food Safety – under the Dietary Supplements Act and the Food Act 2014 - if the labelling is incorrect, there are foreign objects in the ‘food’, it is an unregistered business or there are unhygienic/incorrect food handling, storage, transport or preparation. You can also report allergic reactions. This is the pathway the one least likely to be actionable unless a supplier has made a big slip up that can be proven.
• Advertising Standards Authority – for complaints about the advertising content or placement which is breach of the advertising standards code (ASA - Advertising Standards Authority). That requires advertisements for therapeutic or health products and services to comply with the ASA’s Therapeutic and Health Advertising Code (ASA - Advertising Standards Authority), be clearly identified as advertisements, not be misleading and not use tests, surveys, research results or quotations from technical and scientific literature in a manner which is misleading or deceptive. The Health code prohibits claims of safety and effectiveness and ‘scientific’ language that cannot be easily understood by the public.
• Commerce Commission under the Fair Trading Act – for false or unsubstantiated representations about food being organic or free range, or its place of origin. Information about the various avenues for making a complaint can be found on the MPI website:

This truly leaves the burden with consumers to notice harm or misleading practices and report it. Some of you may remember a similar thing happening in 2006 and 2011 when Bills replacing the Medicines Act 1981 and covering therapeutic products were stopped. So it sure feels like déjà vu (again).