The Environmental Health section inspects and registers offensive trades to ensure minimum standards of health are maintained and compliance with relevant legislation is achieved.
Offensive Trade is defined under the Health Act 1956 as any trade, business, manufacture, or undertaking for the time being specified in the Third Schedule of the Act.
The Health Act 1956
The Act lists the following activities as offensive trades:
- Blood or offal treating
- Bone boiling or crushing
- Collection and storage of used bottles for sale
- Dag crushing
- Fellmongering
- Fish cleaning
- Fish curing
- Flax pulping
- Flock manufacturing, or teasing of textile material for any purpose
- Gut scraping and treating
- Nightsoil collection and disposal
- Refuse collection and disposal
- Septic tank desludging and disposal of sludge
- Slaughtering of animals for any purpose other than human consumption
- Storage, drying or preserving of bones, hides, hooves or skins
- Tallow melting
- Tanning
- Wood pulping
- Wool scouring
The Health Act 1956 (Section 54) requires anyone operating an offensive trade to obtain a Certificate of Registration from Council, in accordance with the Health (Registration of Premises) Regulations 1966. It is an offence to operate an offensive trade without a current registration certificate.
The Certificate of Registration will only be approved and issued when the premises comply with the Act and all other relevant legislation such as the Building Act, and when consent from the Medical Officer of Health has been given.
A full copy of the Health Act can be obtained on-line through Legislation New Zealand.
Further Information
For information on the legal requirements of establishing and operating an offensive trade, please contact Council.