Law passed to improve resolution of Trans-Tasman disputes

Minister for Justice Simon Power has announced a package of new measures aimed at resolving trans-Tasman disputes more effectively and at lower cost.  The package was passed into law in New Zealand on 25 August 2011.

The Trans-Tasman Proceedings Bill:

• Allows civil proceedings from one country to be served on a defendant in the other country as of right.

• Expands the range of civil court judgments from one country that can be enforced in the other, and streamlines the process for enforcement of those judgments.

• Introduces a common statutory test to determine whether a court in one country should decide a dispute or ‘give way' to a court in the other country.

• Facilitates greater use of technology to enable parties and their lawyers to appear remotely in proceedings in the other country.

• Improves regulatory enforcement between countries by allowing civil pecuniary penalties and certain criminal regulatory fines imposed in one country to be enforced in the other.

More information can be found at the Beehive website.