Major Events Management Act 2007

The Major Events Management Act 2007 creates special legal protections for certain events that are formally declared to be major events in New Zealand. Its stated purposes include helping New Zealand obtain maximum benefits from a major event, preventing unauthorised commercial exploitation at the expense of organisers or sponsors, and ensuring the smooth running of the event.

In practice, the Act deals with four main problem areas: unauthorised claims of association with a major event, intrusive advertising or trading around event areas, ticket scalping, and pitch invasion at major sporting events. It also permanently protects certain Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games emblems and words.

This Act matters when your business is doing something commercial in connection with a declared major event. That could include running a promotion, placing signage, selling merchandise, trading near a venue, using tickets in a campaign, or referring to event branding in a way that suggests sponsorship or approval.

An event becomes a major event only if it is declared by Order in Council. The order must identify the major event and the major event organiser. Separate orders can also declare major event emblems, major event words and the protection period. For intrusion controls, clean zones, clean transport routes and clean periods can also be declared by Gazette notice.

Even if your business is not an official sponsor, you can still be caught if your campaign is likely to suggest an association to a reasonable person, or if your advertising intrudes into a protected event area during a clean period.

During a major event's protection period, a person must not make a representation in a way likely to suggest to a reasonable person that there is an association between the major event and goods, services, a brand, or a provider of goods or services. The Act defines association broadly and includes relationships such as approval, authorisation, sponsorship or commercial arrangement.

This is wider than a direct false claim like saying you are an official sponsor. A campaign can still be risky if the overall impression implies a connection. The Act also says a person who makes a representation includes someone who pays for, commissions or authorises it, or receives consideration for its placement or location. So liability risk can sit with the brand, the agency and the media owner.

The court may presume a breach if the representation uses a declared major event emblem or word, or something so similar that it is likely to deceive or confuse a reasonable person. Qualifying language may not solve the problem if the overall message still suggests a connection.

The Act also targets ambush marketing by intrusion. Once a clean zone, clean transport route and clean period are declared for a major event, street trading and advertising in those areas can be restricted unless authorised. There is also a rule against advertising that is clearly visible from a clean zone without authorisation.

This matters for businesses near venues, fan areas and key transport corridors. A rooftop billboard, branded van, temporary stall, banner drop or promotional handout may become a problem during the clean period even if it would normally be lawful. The Act includes exceptions, including examples showing that some existing advertising or ordinary personal use may fall outside the ban, but those exceptions are not a general safe harbour for all nearby businesses.

The practical point is that location and timing matter. A campaign that is acceptable six months earlier may become restricted during the clean period. A sign on private land may still need checking if it is visible from a clean zone, even though the Act contains some exceptions for existing situations.

The Act prohibits ticket scalping for major event activities. Without the major event organiser's authorisation, a person must not sell or trade a ticket for more than the original sale price. The original sale price includes necessary charges such as booking fees and postage or courier charges. The definition of sell or trade is broad and can catch transactions where a substantial purpose is to obtain more than the original sale price.

The Act also permanently protects certain Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games emblems and words. Without written authorisation from the New Zealand Olympic Committee Incorporated, a person must not form a body under a protected name, carry on activities under a protected word, name, title, style or designation, or display or otherwise use protected emblems or words in business where they are included or closely resembled.

That means the risk is not limited to merchandise. It can affect company names, trading names, campaign slogans, event-themed products and promotional branding. The schedule contains protected emblems and a long list of protected words and related expressions, including abbreviations, derivations and similar-meaning words.

The Act uses both criminal and civil enforcement. It creates offences for breaches of the association rules, clean zone and clean transport route rules, ticket-scalping rules, pitch invasion and unauthorised use of protected Olympic and Commonwealth Games emblems and words. The official text also provides for injunctions, damages, account of profits, corrective advertising, delivery up, forfeiture, destruction or retention of goods and related court orders.

For some intrusion offences, the Act states that a person who knowingly breaches the relevant provisions is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $150,000. Knowingly selling or trading a ticket in breach of the ticket-scalping rule can lead to a fine not exceeding $5,000. Pitch invasion can lead to imprisonment for up to 3 months or a fine not exceeding $5,000.

There is also personal risk for management. If a body corporate is convicted of certain offences, directors, officers and other people concerned in management can also be guilty if the offence happened with their authority, permission or consent, they knew or could reasonably be expected to have known, and they failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent or stop it.

Most compliance problems under this Act start in marketing, sponsorship, events or sales teams, not in legal. The safest approach is to build an event-clearance process before creative work goes live. That process should cover event status, protected words and emblems, venue geography, ticket use, and written approvals.

Keep records showing what checks were done and who approved the campaign. If you rely on an organiser's authorisation, keep the written authorisation with the exact scope, dates and channels covered. If you are a media owner, printer, publisher or platform business, keep intake records showing what you were told about the campaign and whether anything gave you reason to think it might breach the Act.

For businesses near venues, keep a site file with maps, photos of signage, lease details, installation dates and evidence of ordinary pre-existing use. That will help if you need to assess whether an exception may apply or respond quickly to an enforcement approach.