New zealand building code major reform! new opportunities for building material exports

Starting from July 2025, New Zealand will officially implement the "Building Product Specifications Pathway," significantly simplifying the approval process for overseas building materials to enter the New Zealand market.

This means that from July 2025, over 12,000 types of building materials (such as glued wood, gypsum board, veneer panels, wall panels, exterior wall systems, doors and windows, insulation materials, etc.) will be more widely accepted for use by New Zealand's Building Consent Authority (BCA).

This policy breakthrough, referred to by New Zealand's Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) as the "largest reform in 30 years," has opened up an unprecedented compliance path for Chinese building material manufacturers.

Shanghai Hongjun, as a professional service organization deeply engaged in global compliance for building products, provides you with an in-depth interpretation of the core benefits of the new policy.

This policy is based on the "Amendment to the Overseas Construction Products, Standards, and Certification System" passed at the end of 2024, and opens the following three major compliance pathways:

• Overseas Standard Recognition - Ministerial Announcement System
  The Minister of Construction has the authority to announce the recognition of groups of construction product standards issued by overseas standard organizations (such as ISO, ASTM), significantly simplifying the standard citation process.

• Direct recognition of overseas certification
  The certification results issued by overseas certification systems recognized by MBIE must be accepted by New Zealand building approval agencies. This means that products such as steel, doors and windows, insulation materials, etc., certified through mainstream international standards like ISO, ASTM, and EN can be exempted from repeated testing and quickly approved for entry into the New Zealand market.

The product range is broad, and it is highly integrated with international standards.

The first version of the BPS draft has clearly included the following building materials products: