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Endorsed Standards

Last updated: 22 September 2025

Endorsed Standards are the recognition of overseas groups of standards and standards certification schemes by the Minister for Building and Construction, making it easier to use building products from recognised overseas jurisdictions.

Endorsed Standards are part of three pathways introduced by the Building Amendment Act 2025 to provide New Zealanders with more choice of building products so buildings can be healthier, safer and more durable while costing less.

Building Amendment Act 2025 – legislation.govt.nz

Benefits of using Endorsed Standards

Endorsed Standards will simplify the consenting process for designers, builders, building owners and BCAs by: 

  • providing guidance about what standards from overseas standards organisations could be considered when specifying building products that will comply with the Building Code
  • making it easier for any building product that has met an appropriate standard from a recognised overseas jurisdiction to be specified in a building design. 

What are Endorsed Standards?

Endorsed Standards are groups of standards issued by trusted overseas standards organisations, and standard certification schemes, recognised by the Minister for Building and Construction. 

Endorsed Standards:

  • can be used as supporting evidence of compliance with the Building Code
  • make it easier for many building products from overseas to be specified in a building design.

Endorsed Standards may be considered by building consent authorities (BCAs) when determining compliance with the Building Code, but they do not provide a deemed to comply pathway. 

BCAs will still need to assess proposed building work to ensure products are being used for their stated purpose and that the building work will comply with the Building Code.

Pyramid diagram showing the multiple layers that make up the Building Code regulatory framework. Figure 1: Where Endorsed Standards fits in the Building Code regulatory framework

Text description for figure 1

How the Endorsed Standards recognition process works

The process starts with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) evaluating groups of overseas standards and standards certification schemes for possible recognition by the Minister for Building and Construction.

The Minister is authorised to recognise overseas standards and standard certifications schemes by notice from MBIE. This is only if the Minister is satisfied that the standards or standards certification schemes meet the decision-making criteria specified in regulations.

Evaluation will include verifying that the:

  • standards organisation is a full member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) or the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)
  • standards certification scheme is accredited to an appropriate standard
  • standards organisation or standards certification scheme itself has robust and transparent processes for developing, maintaining, and publishing standards, and those processes are consistent with internationally recognised good practice
  • groups of standards are available, or can be made available, to Aotearoa New Zealand users
  • standards are available in English (or official translations are available from the standards organisation).

Endorsed Standards can be amended or revoked following a review by MBIE.

Evaluation will consider the evidence that a standards organisation can consistently develop and maintain standards of the required quality, but it does not cover a detailed evaluation of individual standards or their design or performance characteristics.

For standards certifications schemes, evaluation will consider the evidence that the scheme has robust processes, not the standards themselves or the certified products.

Using Endorsed Standards

Endorsed Standards can be used as supporting information in a building consent application. If you include an endorsed building and construction-related standard in a building consent application, the building consent authority may consider it as evidence of compliance with the Building Code.

The notice under the heading 'Endorsed Standards list' on this page must be included in the building consent application.

For more information on how you can use an Endorsed Standard in a consent application, go to:

Endorsed Standards list

The Minister for Building and Construction has recognised building and construction related standards issued by the following standards organisations:

  • International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO Standards)
  • International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC Standards)
  • British Standards Institute (BS Standards)
  • American National Standards Institute (ANSI Standards)
  • Standards Australia (AS Standards)
  • European Committee for Standardization (CEN) (EN Standards)
  • European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) (EN Standards)
  • American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM Standards)
  • International Code Council Standards (ICC Standards)
  • International Commission on Illumination (CIE Standards)
  • Canadian Standards Association (CSA Group) (CSA Standards)

The recognition notice for these groups of overseas standards commences on 1 October 2025.

Overseas standards recognition notice [PDF 214KB]

Standards New Zealand provides information on how to purchase or subscribe to standards, as well as details on free standards. The fee to access/download an overseas standard will still need to be paid by the user.

How to access standards – standards.govt.nz

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) funds some building standards, used for Building Code compliance, to download for free. You can find the list of building-related sponsored standards: 

List of building-related sponsored standards [DOCX 52KB]

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This information is published by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Chief Executive. It is a general guide only and, if used, does not relieve any person of the obligation to consider any matter to which the information relates according to the circumstances of the particular case. Expert advice may be required in specific circumstances. Where this information relates to assisting people: