Questions loom as gift card rules kick in

Starting on the 16th of March, all new gift cards must have a minimum expiry date of three years. 

The only thing is, many retailers have expressed confusion over what actually is or is not considered to be a gift card.

Two weeks prior to the roll out date, the Commerce Commission stepped in to provide some clarity.

All gift cards and vouchers given out for free are exempt from the new legislation, as well as prepaid top-up cards for telecommunication services, public transport, electricity, gas, or water services. 

There were also questions over whether the new rules would affect services such as machines in laundromats or gaming arcades.

After consultation, Retail NZ’s chief executive Carolyn Young confirmed the law indeed extended to these offerings, which she believed put a burden on smaller or medium sized businesses.

She called it a “financial compliance headache” during a cost of living crisis, now requiring them to print prominently on the back of cards and allow at least three years for loaded money to be spent. 

“Somehow they've got swept into the gift card space and that will require some investment in technology to ensure that their cards provide the ability for a consumer to understand the expiry date on them,” she told rova.

“We've reached out to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs…. so we're trying to get some clarification there and we'll come back to the Commerce Commission after that.”

Despite the minor headaches and loopholes, Young assured that retailers were still largely on board with the majority of the law changes. 

“I think everybody agrees that it's a good outcome for everyone… It'll become a universal date so everybody knows what they can get, and retailers are really clear about what they need to deliver on,” she said. 

Retail NZ is continuing to call for an amendment to exclude these earlier examples from the new legislation.