Commercial Blog

It’s normal for businesses to want to make their prices as enticing as possible. At what point does advertising cross the line and become misleading, or even an outright lie?

An Auckland couple has been in the news in recent weeks for repeatedly registering their teenage children as directors and shareholders of their companies, reportedly to evade tax.The District Court judge said Tamanini and Uputaua Muaiava used their children like “puppets” to evade an estimated $431,644 in tax.

New World’s recent and most popular ever promotion has caused quite a stir! Shoppers around New Zealand have been scrambling to collect stickers which can be earnt by shopping at New World in order to redeem them for Smeg knives and knife blocks.

On 30 July the Government released an announcement stating that it will provide $40 million to fund arbitration to help assist commercial lease parties settle rental disputes that occurred over lockdown.

Life in the digital age means that we increasingly collect, store and disclose personal information like never before. The new Privacy Act 2020 provides a much needed change to privacy law in New Zealand, refreshing the 27-year-old Privacy Act 1993, ensuring we align with international best practice.

Parliament has passed significant changes to New Zealand’s overseas investment rules under urgency in response to the economic impact of COVID-19. The majority of the changes under the Overseas Investment (Urgent Measures) Amendment Act 2020 ("the Urgent Measures Act") came into force on 16 June 2020.

The Government has announced a temporary amendment to the Property Law Act to require a fair reduction of rent for commercial tenants that suffered due to COVID-19 restrictions.

TSB Community Trust and Govett Quilliam are partnering to provide a joint Not-for-Profit grant to assist NFP businesses who have been substantially impacted by COVID-19.

The Government has announced several supports aimed at helping businesses survive the economic impacts of COVID-19. One such support is Business Debt Hibernation (BDH), which would allow businesses impacted by COVID-19 to hibernate existing debts until they can get back on their feet.

The current COVID-19 restrictions will significantly impact the ability of some directors to comply with their duties and the Companies Act 1993. The Government’s announcement on 3 April 2020 regarding the introduction of an insolvency relief package will therefore undoubtedly be welcome news for directors.