Invitation to Comment: Emergency Management Rule 1: Forms for Declarations of States of Emergency and Transition Periods

To ensure the EM Bill operates effectively when it comes into force, the form and manner to declare states of emergency and transition periods needs to be prescribed in rules. 

This rule will update and replace the declaration forms that are currently in the Civil Defence Emergency Management Regulations 2003 (the Regulations) and allow for:

• the use of electronic signatures for declarations, and
• new forms to declare local emergencies over unaffected areas.

The EM Bill presupposes that there are forms for declaring states of emergency and transition periods specified in rules. Without these rules in place:

• there will be legal and administrative uncertainty about if and how states of emergency and transition periods can be declared when the EM Bill comes into force, and 
• authorised persons will be unable to sign any declaration electronically, which is not always suitable in an emergency.

The rule is broken down into three parts, and two related schedules:

• Part A covers the forms of declarations of states of emergency.
• Part B covers the forms of declarations of transition periods.
• Part C covers the use of electronic signatures on declarations.
• Schedule 1 contains the forms to be used to declare states of national and local emergency, including the various types of extensions and terminations.
• Schedule 2 contains the forms to be used to declare national and local transition periods, including the various types of extensions and terminations.

The notes under each form are to assist in completing it correctly and provide a reminder of the requirements under the EM Bill for those making those declarations.

• View the draft rule in the Invitation to Comment document (.pdf 792kb)

We welcome your comments and feedback on the draft rule. We're accepting submissions until 5pm on 29 May 2026.

If you're happy with what we’re proposing, you don't need to do anything else, but we'd appreciate an email from you letting us know.

You can send us your feedback by email or post.

• email us at [email protected]
• write to us: EM Bill Implementation Team, National Emergency Management Agency, PO Box 5010, Wellington 6140

Submissions are public information

Please indicate clearly if your comments are commercially sensitive, or if for some other reason you consider they should not be disclosed.

If you are an individual (that is, your comments are made personally and not on behalf of a company or an organisation), please indicate if you consider for some reason that your identity should not be disclosed.

Note that all, part, or a summary of your submission may be published on this website. Most often this happens when we issue a document that reviews the submissions received.

People can also ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we must make the content of submissions available unless we have good reason for withholding it. Those reasons are detailed in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.

If your submission is subject to an Official Information Act (OIA) request, NEMA will consider your confidentiality request in accordance with the grounds for withholding information set out in the OIA.

Once consultation has closed, NEMA will analyse the submissions, and consider whether to alter the draft rule in the light of the submissions received. We will publish this Invitation to Comment and the submissions on it on the NEMA website.

This rule needs to be made immediately after the EM Bill comes into force on the day after royal assent.