Last updated: July 2025

When these Terms apply: These Terms of Engagement ("Terms") apply to our engagements with you, including all services we provide to you in relation to facilitating investment into New Zealand , such as advice, organising events, providing funding referrals and connections, the provision of digital content, and any other assistance (collectively our "Services"). Unless the context requires otherwise, a reference to “we”, ”our”, or ”us” is to Invest New Zealand (“Invest NZ”), and a reference to “you” or “your” means the person who engages with us (for example, ‘you’ could be an individual if you are engaging in your personal capacity, or the legal entity that you are acting on behalf of). The following definitions are also applicable to these Terms:

Other terms: Other, more specific, terms may apply to some of the Services we provide to you in addition to these general terms. In particular, use of our online services is also subject to our Terms of Use. Where there is any inconsistency, the more specific terms (as reasonably determined by us) prevail.

When binding: These Terms are binding on each of us once you start to use our Services or continue to use them after they have been changed (see below). We may ask you to confirm your agreement in writing for our records, but these Terms will be binding on both of us as set out in this paragraph even if you don't provide that confirmation.

Changes to Terms: We may need to change these Terms from time to time. If we do make any changes, those changes become binding on both of us 14 days after we give you notice in writing of them or publish them on our website (whichever is earlier), except that:

(a) if a change is significant and would adversely affect you, we must give you notice in writing; and

(b) if you give us notice before the end of the 14 days that you do not wish to be bound by a change to our Terms, our engagement with you will end at the end of the 14 days, or as soon as is reasonably practical after that, and the varied Terms will not apply to you.

Nature of relationship: Our relationship with you is not a joint venture or partnership and nor is it a relationship of agency, employment, or involve any fiduciary relationship. Neither of us has the authority to bind the other.

No obligation: We have no obligation to provide any particular Service to you during our engagement, or to continue to provide any Services we have provided in the past. Time shall not be of the essence for any Services provided during our engagement.

‘Know Your Customer’ Checks: In order for Invest NZ to deliver our Services to you, we may need to undertake ‘Know Your Customer’ checks. This may involve Invest NZ, or a service provider to Invest NZ, carrying out a verification and/or good character check on you, your company, and any directors, shareholders and/or any beneficial owners of your company, or in the case of an Acceptable Investment Applicant, the applicant business. You agree that by engaging with us, you authorise Invest NZ to carry out these checks, and acknowledge that the outcome of such checks may mean that Invest NZ cannot engage with you.

Introductory text: This document includes some introductory text in some sections, which sits above the Terms and is separated from them by a horizontal line. This introductory text is intended to provide context but does not form part of the Terms. It does not create any rights or obligations, but can be used to help interpret the Terms. If it is inconsistent with the Terms, the Terms prevail.

You may provide us, and we may provide you, with information that is confidential in nature. We take confidentiality very seriously. The clauses below set out each of our and your confidentiality obligations, but also recognise that in some cases disclosure may be necessary for either legal or practical reasons. Please note that how we deal with your personal information is set out below in the Privacy section.

Confidential Information means any information that one party receives from the other that:

(a) a reasonable person would expect to be confidential; or

(b) is identified as confidential at the time it is provided (or beforehand); or

(c) is Highly Confidential Information,

but does not include information that:

(c) is or becomes available to the public (other than by a breach of these Terms); or

(d) was already held by the receiver when it was disclosed; or

(e) is lawfully received from a third party who is not obliged to keep the information confidential.

To be clear, the fact that we are engaging with you will not be considered confidential.

Highly Confidential Information means any information that one party receives from the other and is identified as being "Highly Confidential Information" at the time it is provided (or beforehand).

Confidentiality and security: Unless disclosure is permitted under these Terms, we will, and you agree to:

(a) hold any Confidential Information received from the other in confidence, and not disclose it to any person, for so long as it remains Confidential Information; and

(b) put in place and maintain reasonable security measures to prevent any unauthorised person from using or accessing the Confidential Information received from the other in the recipient’s possession or control.

Permitted disclosures: Confidential Information may be disclosed:

(a) by us to another New Zealand Government entity if:

(i) the information is not Highly Confidential Information and that New Zealand Government entity is bound by a statutory confidentiality obligation in relation to the information or by a confidentiality undertaking in relation to the information that is on substantially the same terms as these terms; or

(ii) the disclosure is, in our reasonable opinion, required to assist in the prevention or detection of any unlawful activity; or

(iii) the disclosure is reasonably required to facilitate the provision of our Services to you (e.g. an event delivered in conjunction with another New Zealand Government entity);

(b) if required by applicable law;

(c) with the discloser’s prior authorisation;

(d) to:

(i) our employees; or

(ii) our professional advisers, auditors, service providers and independent contractors who have a specific need to have access to the Confidential Information in the course of their work, provided, in each case, that they are legally obliged to keep it confidential; or

(e) if the information is not Highly Confidential Information, by us to a Minister of the Crown (or to the office of the relevant Minister for provision to the Minister) who requests the information (noting that even Highly Confidential Information may, in some circumstances, need to be disclosed to a Minister under (b)).

Communicating confidentiality: If either we or you disclose the other’s Confidential Information in reliance on one of the grounds set out above, the discloser must, to the extent that is reasonable under the circumstances, ensure that each person to whom Confidential Information is disclosed is aware of the confidential nature of the information.

Consultation: If we propose to disclose Confidential Information under (b) or (e) above, we must, to the extent that is reasonable under the circumstances and permitted by law, discuss with you before disclosing the information and inform you when we have disclosed the information.

Generative AI is a rapidly developing area of technology, with transformative potential for the public sector and we are actively exploring generative AI tools to enhance the quality of our service to you.

When using generative AI tools to provide services to you, we implement appropriate safeguards to ensure we treat your Confidential Information with respect, and we are responsible for checking any generative AI outputs for accuracy and appropriateness before we use them.

If we have personal information about you or your employees, we will manage that personal information in accordance with applicable laws. We take these privacy obligations seriously.

Privacy Policy: These Terms incorporate our Privacy Policy, which provides details on how we may collect, store and use personal information.

Contact details: You authorise us to use the contact details and other personal information you provide us with (whether about you or other individuals in your organisation) to:

(a) include you and those individuals in mailing lists relating to our Services, including offers to participate in seminars, workshops, and surveys (though you and they may revoke this authorisation at any time); and

(b) retain that personal information so that we can contact you or them in the future and/or put others (for example, other Government agencies that wish to help you) in contact with you or them; and

(c) provide you with Services and otherwise use them in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Consent of individuals: If you provide us the business contact details of individuals or other personal information of that individual, you must ensure that they have consented to us holding those details and using them as set out in our Privacy Policy.

We're proud to work with our customers and are generally happy for you to tell people that you work with us. However, it's really important that our role in helping your business is not misrepresented. Working with us does not imply that the Government endorses you or your business. It's not our role to do either of those things. The below paragraphs are to help us and you manage the way in which public statements involving each other are presented.

No misrepresentation: Each of us may disclose our relationship with the other, so long as that relationship is not misrepresented. In particular you must not represent that we or the New Zealand Government endorse or approve you, your organisation, or your investment in New Zealand. Please note that any logo relating to Invest NZ may not be used without our prior consent.

No surprises: Subject to the following paragraph, each of us must notify the other as soon as we reasonably can of any issues that could generate media attention about our engagement or may cause reputational issues to Invest NZ or the New Zealand Government. This includes any issue that could materially damage your reputation and thereby raise questions about the existence of our relationship.

Legal constraints: The previous paragraph does not require either of us to disclose information to the extent that doing so would breach any law or a confidentiality obligation to an independent third party.

Public statements: If either of us intends to make a public statement referring to the other that could reasonably be expected to draw significant attention to the other, we must first consult with the other to the extent we reasonably can under the circumstances.

Our objective is to help you and we intend to engage with you in good faith and using all reasonable care and diligence. We would like to be able to explore issues with you as openly as possible, without being constrained by the risk of legal liability if we don't always get it exactly right. While this will leave the onus on you to independently assess the merit of our views, it will allow us to offer ideas and support across a far wider range of issues. This maximises our ability to help you.

No representation: We make no warranty or representation about the Services we provide, including its suitability for you or your business.

Your responsibility to decide: It is your responsibility to decide how and whether to use and/or rely on the Services we provide, and you rely on them at your own risk. For example, you must independently decide whether to use any other provider or product that we refer or introduce you to.

Not specialist advice: You acknowledge that our Services are not, and are not intended to be, expert legal, financial, investment, tax, or professional advice with respect to any business matter, transaction or investment. You should undertake relevant due diligence and consult with independent professional advisers before making any legal, financial, investment, trading, or business decision. We are not an offeror of any financial products to any person nor do we provide any financial advice service for the purpose of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013.

No liability: You agree that we have no liability to you (whether in contract, tort or otherwise) in relation to the Services we provide to you, except to the extent that:

(a) you suffer direct loss as a result of a breach by us of a written contract (including these Terms);

and

(b) our liability is not able to be excluded by applicable law (in which case our liability shall be limited to the minimum amount allowed by that applicable law).

In particular you agree that any Services we provide (including via our providers) are supplied and acquired for business purposes and we both agree that the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 does not apply to our engagement.

The above limitations apply only to the extent permitted by law.

Force majeure: Neither of us will be responsible to the other for any delay or failure to perform an obligation under these Terms to the extent the failure or delay was caused by an event beyond the affected party's reasonable control.

Many of our Services are free, but in some cases we recover some of our costs by charging you.

No surprise fees: We will not charge you for any Service unless:

(a) we have told you upfront in writing that there is a charge for the Service before you begin consuming it; and

(b) you confirm to us that you still wish to use the Service after we have informed you of the charge, which may be by confirming it in writing or taking positive steps to use the Service after we have informed you of the charge.

Prompt payment: If there is a charge for a Service that you have agreed to, you must pay that charge promptly after we invoice you for it (subject to us meeting any reasonable invoicing requirements you may have).

We are funded with public money and it is our role to help different businesses and investors for the good of New Zealand, even where their interests may conflict with each other. Consequently, although we are sensitive to competitive tensions and it is certainly not our intention to help one New Zealand business at the expense of another, we cannot agree to help some businesses to the exclusion of their competitors. We also need to keep evolving our service offering, which necessarily means drawing on what we learn from each customer engagement to better service all customers, subject always to our confidentiality obligations to you.

No exclusivity: You acknowledge that we will be working with other customers and that:

(a) in some cases, those other customers may be your competitors; and

(b) in some cases, the assistance we provide to those other customers may be against your interests (because, for example, it may increase their market share, which could come partially at your expense).

Use of knowledge: You acknowledge that we are, ourselves, learning through our engagement with you, and that we will use that knowledge to improve our service offering to all of our customers.

No exceptions from obligations: Nothing in this section relieves us of our obligations in relation to your Confidential Information or intellectual property rights.

A function of Invest NZ is to provide support to Investor Migrants in a number of different ways. For any support we provide to you as an Investor Migrant, the following additional conditions apply:

Investor Migrants: Our role in the investor migrant programme is investor attraction, activation, aftercare, and assessing the eligibility of managed funds and direct investments for the Active Investor Plus visa. Immigration New Zealand is responsible for visa information, processing and decision making. Engaging with us does not guarantee that you will be successful in being granted or be compliant with your Active Investor Plus visa conditions.

No guarantees: Working with us does not guarantee that you, your fund or your business will successfully raise capital, nor that you, your fund or your business will be a successful Acceptable Investment Applicant

Comply with health and safety law: We will each comply with all our obligations in the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and any relevant other health and safety obligations, in relation to our engagement.

Comply with health and safety policies when on each other’s premises: When one of us visits the other’s premises, we each will comply with relevant health and safety policies and procedures that apply to those premises, provided the visitor has been informed of those policies and procedures previously or at the time.

Cooperation: We will each consult, cooperate, and coordinate with each other for the purposes of complying with our respective health and safety duties and obligations.

Notification: We will each immediately notify each other if we become aware of any health and safety issues relevant to this engagement.

Termination without cause: Either of us may terminate our engagement at any time for any reason by notice in writing. However, these Terms continue in full force and effect, apart from the obligation to perform and pay for Services.

Governing law: These Terms are governed by and shall be construed in accordance with New Zealand law and both parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the New Zealand courts.

Anti-bribery: New Zealand's anti-bribery laws apply in New Zealand and overseas. Please note that we will not provide Services to any party suspected of, or involved in, bribery, and we will report such incidences to relevant government authorities.

Notices: All notices given by one party to the other under these Terms of Engagement must be in writing. Notices from you must be sent to generalenquiries@investnz.govt.nz. Notices from us will be sent to you via our website or by using the contact details you have provided to us.

Third parties: Only you and we can enforce or take the benefit of these Terms.