Digital Product Labels: What the Government Is Planning and Why
New Zealand is developing a national standard for digital product labelling, with the Government forecasting $111 million in economic benefit over ten years.
Regulations Minister David Seymour announced on 6 September 2026 that the standard will let businesses update product information in real time, cut compliance costs, and reduce the shelf space taken up by physical labels. RNZ
Digital labels won't replace physical ones outright. Instead, the standard gives businesses the option to adopt a recognised global standard for digital labelling — think of it as a QR code on a product that links to live, up-to-date information. The changes come from a regulatory review of product labelling by the Ministry for Regulation, which has been looking at how New Zealand's labelling system could be modernised. Seymour said decisions on the rest of the review have yet to be made. RNZ
The announcement also includes a trans-Tasman element: over-the-counter medicine labelling in New Zealand will be aligned with Australia's rules, so companies no longer need to produce New Zealand-specific labels. That removes a long-standing compliance cost for pharmaceutical suppliers operating in both countries.
Separately, work on digital food labelling has been progressing through the Ministry for Primary Industries and New Zealand Food Safety for over a year. This is a parallel workstream, distinct from the broader product labelling review.
New Zealand Food Safety is planning a one-year trial of digital food labels on selected imported packaged foods. An Expression-of-Interest process for approved retailers closed on 8 April 2026. A small number of approved retailers will be temporarily exempt from existing physical labelling requirements under the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code during the trial. All other retailers will continue to display normal physical labels. Beehive
The trial is limited to lower-risk, pre-packaged imported foods. Products in the trial will carry physical labels that comply with the rules of countries with food safety systems comparable to New Zealand's. All the information consumers are used to seeing on labels will be available digitally. Every product must comply with the Food Act 2014, the compositional requirements of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, and all other relevant legislation. Beehive
New Zealand Food Safety will assess participants, run the trial, provide guidance, and monitor performance. The trial's outcomes will feed into broader consideration of digital food labelling by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), the joint body that sets food standards across both countries. Beehive
The path to the food trial has moved through several stages. Finance Minister Nicola Willis, in her capacity as Economic Growth Minister, and Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard announced in November 2025 that consultation had begun on allowing digital labels for lower-risk food products. That consultation was a statutory requirement under the Food Act. The Ministry for Primary Industries had earlier opened a consultation on a limited trial proposal, with submissions closing on 19 December 2025, and published a summary of those submissions in March 2026. OpenGov Asia MPI MPI
The Beehive confirmed in March 2026 that the Government would proceed with the trial following the consultation process. Beehive
The broader context here is one of gradual regulatory change across product categories. The Ministry for Regulation's review covers labelling well beyond food, and Seymour's announcement of a national digital standard signals the Government wants a framework that can apply across the board rather than being built sector by sector. The trans-Tasman medicine alignment is the clearest example: removing country-specific label requirements cuts compliance costs without dismantling the underlying safety rules.
For businesses, the practical implications are twofold. Companies that already operate under recognised international standards in countries with comparable food safety systems may get a pathway to reduced physical labelling obligations in New Zealand, at least within the trial's scope. Pharmaceutical suppliers stand to benefit more immediately from the medicine alignment, which removes the need for a separate New Zealand label run.
For regulators, the food trial functions as a test case. FSANZ will be watching the results to inform its own trans-Tasman position on digital food labelling. The trial's design is conservative: it keeps physical labels that comply with comparable jurisdictions and layers digital information on top, which minimises consumer-protection risk while testing whether digital channels can reliably carry mandatory information.
The $111 million figure is a ten-year forecast. Whether it materialises will depend on how many businesses take it up, the final scope of the standard, and how many of the review's remaining recommendations the Government adopts. Seymour's framing of digital labelling as optional rather than replacement means the regime is voluntary, at least initially, which makes rapid adoption unlikely. The sectors most likely to move first are those with the highest labelling compliance costs and the strongest existing digital infrastructure.
What remains undecided is the rest of the product labelling review. Seymour has indicated further decisions are pending, and the Ministry for Regulation's review page continues to list the review as ongoing. The 6 September announcement covers one component of a wider reform programme, not its conclusion. RNZ Regulation.govt.nz
