In accordance with section 157(6)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (“the Act”), the Associate Minister of Justice hereby gives notice that he has granted the following exemptions from the Act:

Ministerial Exemption: Trustees of the Glaxo New Zealand Pension Plan

1. In my capacity as the Associate Minister of Justice and pursuant to section 157 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (“the Act”), I exempt the trustees of the Glaxo New Zealand Pension Plan (“Plan”) from the provisions of Part 2 of the Act in relation to services provided as trustees of the Plan.
2. This exemption is subject to the following conditions:
1. The Plan must remain a registered superannuation scheme as defined under the Superannuation Schemes Act 1989 or registered under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013, as applicable.
2. The payment arrangement, where the Plan receives payments from the participating company, Tower and one pensioner (whose contribution is insufficient to meet the cost of his Southern Cross premium) and makes payments of the same amount to certain pensioners and Southern Cross, can only be provided to the Plan’s current 19 members.
3. With the exception of Australian superannuation transfers to the Scheme (if applicable), customer due diligence in accordance with sections 10–36 of the Act and suspicious transaction reports in accordance with sections 40–48 of the Act and, where the transaction is relevant to a suspicious transaction report, transaction records in accordance with sections 49(1) and (2)(a)–(f) of the Act are required on all contributions and transfers to the Plan from international sources.
3. The exemption has been granted for the following reasons:
1. The Plan poses a very low risk of money laundering or terrorist financing;
2. the payments made under the payment arrangement that are not provided for in the trust deed of the Plan are small in quantum, historical in nature and the amounts payable are non-discretionary;
3. the Plan has not admitted new members since 1996 and only has 19 members, all of whom are retired and in receipt of a pension from the Plan;
4. due to the very low money laundering and terrorist financing risks raised by the Plan and the significant compliance costs that would arise from not granting this exemption, I consider that any benefits of requiring compliance with the Act are not justified by the associated costs; and
5. this exemption is consistent with (and has no effect on the purpose or intent of) the Act, the Financial Transactions Reporting Act 1996 and New Zealand’s international obligations as a member of the Financial Action Task Force and the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering.
4. This exemption came into force on the day after the date I granted this exemption (21 June 2015).
5. This exemption will expire on 30 June 2018.

Ministerial Exemption: epay New Zealand Limited

1. In my capacity as the Associate Minister of Justice and pursuant to section 157 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (“the Act”), I exempt epay New Zealand Limited (“epay”) from all provisions of the Act in relation to services it provides to enable customers to pay their electricity bills.
2. The exemption is granted subject to the following conditions:
1. Every wire transfer must relate only to the payment of electricity bills directly to the bank account or facility of an “industry participant” as defined under section 7(1) of the Electricity Industry Act 2010.
2. Every wire transfer undertaken as part of the exempted service must be domestic in nature, as defined under section 27(7) of the Act.
3. Wire transfers undertaken as part of the exempted service must not exceed $1000.00.
4. Bill payment reports are to be held and maintained by epay for a period of five years in accordance with sections 49(1) and 49(3) of the Act.
3. The exemption has been granted for the following reasons:
1. The narrow scope of services offered by epay to customers;
2. the lack of contact between epay and customers;
3. the low value of payments made; and
4. the process-driven systems employed to transfer payment from the payer to the payee.
4. The granting of this exemption is not inconsistent with the purpose or intent of the Act or the Financial Transactions Reporting Act 1996 or New Zealand’s international obligations as a member of the Financial Action Taskforce and the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering.
5. This exemption came into force on the day after the date I granted this exemption (21 June 2015).
6. This exemption will expire on 30 June 2018.

Any person wishing to provide comment on these notices should contact the Criminal Law Team at the Ministry of Justice by emailing international.crime@justice.govt.nz