The minimum legal age for purchasing alcohol in New Zealand is currently 18 years. It is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 years to buy alcohol.

Under the new Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012, it is also illegal to supply alcohol to a person under 18 years of age unless:

The supplier is the parent or legal guardian of the minor - and the alcohol is supplied in a responsible manner, OR

The person supplying the alcohol has the express consent of the parent or guardian of the minor (as defined in the Care of Children Act 2004) and supplies the alcohol in a responsible manner.

Parents are encouraged to talk with other parents about alcohol and their kids. If you have been given express consent to supply alcohol (for example, a parent who is organising an occasion), consideration should be given to responsible supply and hosting practices such as food provision, non-alcoholic options, the strength of alcohol supplied, arrangement for transport and the nature of the occasion.

Young drivers

Drivers under 20 years of age are subject to a zero-alcohol level. This means they must not drink any alcohol.

Acknowledgement and copyright notice

No Safe Limit are very grateful to Northland District Health Board (NDHB) for permission to reproduce this content from the NDHB-Whanau-Pack-ED2-v2.pdf (northlanddhb.org.nz). NDHB own the copyright in this material and it must not be copied or reproduced except as expressly permitted by NDHB.