Our compliance approach

Find out about the way we check that investors are meeting their obligations.

What is compliance about?

Our compliance role is about making sure overseas persons:

  • get consent to invest in sensitive New Zealand assets when they need to
  • give us truthful and complete information about themselves and their plans
  • keep the commitments they make when they apply for consent.

Our compliance work ensures investors are treated fairly, those who break the rules are held to account, and others are deterred from breaking the rules. It also gives the New Zealand public confidence we are doing our job.

Overseas person definition 

How we work

In carrying out compliance activities we:

  • act independently and fairly
  • ensure our response is in proportion to what has happened
  • are as transparent as possible, recognising that sometimes we must protect the confidentiality of the information we hold to ensure fair process.

What we do

Compliance work is varied, including:

  • educating overseas people about the need to comply with the rules before an overseas investment is made
  • assessing an overseas investor’s compliance with the conditions of their consent
  • monitoring activities, such as site inspections
  • collecting and acting on information provided to us by members of the public, other regulators, and government agencies
  • investigating possible breaches of the rules
  • taking enforcement action if we find that the rules have been broken.

Outcomes of enforcement action

We generally publish the outcome of the enforcement action we take. 

Enforcement action taken

Reporting a breach

If you think you have made a mistake by failing to comply with the rules, please let us know. We may be able to take your cooperation into account when considering our response.

Contact the Overseas Investment Office

Tell us if you think someone has broken overseas investment rules

Report a suspected breach