Insights & Articles

Assignment of contracts is a fairly common practice in the business world. In an assignment, the person assigning the contract - the "Assignor" - assigns the benefits of the contract the Assignor holds to a new person (the "Assignee") who takes the benefit of that contract "the Assignee". Some contracts may expressly prohibit assignment and some contracts provide that a contract may not be assigned without the consent of the other party. If a contract has no provision relating to assignment, then the general rule is that it may be assigned, with a few exceptions.

In a world that is placing an increasing reliance on technology and value in data, it is hardly surprising that New Zealand's outdated Privacy Act 1993 ("Act") is scheduled to be replaced on 1 December 2020 in its entirety by the Privacy Bill ("Bill") which is currently making its way through the final stages of Parliament.

Introduction - This article highlights an important but little-noticed piece of New Zealand legislation hurriedly prepared and enacted in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Business Debt Hibernation scheme was created to help companies, partnerships, trusts, or incorporated societies established before 3 April 2020 to cope with and manage certain existing debts where those entities are unable to immediately pay those debts due to the impact of Covid-19, but where their prospects of payment in the future are much better.

In the current Covid-19 environment we are seeing a significant increase in the number of redundancies. We have set out briefly below a few points to bear in mind if you are thinking about making roles redundant.

There is an important update on the health and safety requirements in the construction sector we wish to share with you if you have not yet been updated. Over the last few weeks, the situation with Covid-19 in New Zealand has noticeably improved. However, it is too soon to celebrate, and there is no room for complacency as we will still be under Covid-19 Alert Level 2, starting this Thursday 14 May 2020. It will remain critical, perhaps more than ever, for everyone in the construction industry to take all necessary steps to keep the virus under control until we are down to Alert Level 1.

There are many circumstances where businesses might give credit – even without formally doing so. Providing goods or performing services in advance of full payment is extremely common, but if a company or sole trader you are dealing with has financial problems or a poor credit history, then you may not get paid.

Part 4 of the Contracts and Commercial Law Act 2017 ("CCLA") provides that, with some few exceptions, where a signature is required by law (including to conclude a contract) you can sign that document electronically provided certain conditions are met. An electronic signature is defined in the CCLA as a method used to identify a person and to indicate that person's approval of that information.

A New Normal - The impacts of the Covid-19 virus have been felt the world over and have pushed businesses to their limits. Parties on each side of a lease have been left with the job of negotiating through untested and uncertain lease clauses in a time where the support being offered by Government has been unclear and anyone who did hold insurance is discovering that 'pandemics' and 'infectious diseases' are a common policy exemption.

Parties to construction contracts, especially those contractors (and subcontractors) who are engaged to carry out particular contract works by an agreed due date for completion, may be exposed to penalties or "liquidated damages" if unable to carry on or complete those works during the Covid-19 Alert Level 4 lockdown.

The current 'lockdown' is unprecedented. In times like these your first priority is to ensure you take care of yourselves, friends and family. However, while it is important to protect those close to you, you should also give consideration to the protection of your assets. Accordingly, it may be an opportune time to review your current estate planning to ensure everything is 'as you would like' and, if you have a trust, to make sure that it aligns with the provisions of the Trusts Act 2019 ("the Act") which was enacted this year but comes into force at the beginning of 2021.