Database

Consent is not required for the transfer of data to third countries, subject to compliance with the Information Privacy Principles. However, both the Privacy Act and the Health Information Privacy Code continue to apply to personal information and health information even when it is transferred out of New Zealand.

The Privacy Commissioner is given the power to prohibit a transfer of personal information from New Zealand to another state, territory, province or other part of a country by issuing a transfer prohibition notice.

New Zealand’s Inland Revenue Service issued a “Revenue Alert” stating that companies were required to store business records in data centers physically located in New Zealand in order to comply with the Inland Revenue Acts.

For contractual services suppliers (CSS) there is a limit of stay of zero.

Fair dealing exceptions are provided in sections 40 to 92 of the Copyright Act. They include fair dealing for: the purposes of criticism, review and news reporting (section 42), the purposes of research or private study (section 43), educational purposes (sections 44 to 48) and copying by librarians or archivists (sections 51 to 56).

Consent by the New Zealand authorities must be obtained for investments in significant business assets (e.g. acquisitions of a 25% or greater ownership interest in in business assets valued at over NZD 100 million (approx. 64 million USD)). In these cases, foreign investors must demonstrate the necessary business experience and financial acumen to manage the investment.

Since May 2015, all newly incorporated companies in New Zealand are required to have at least one director living in New Zealand, or living in an 'enforcement country' and is a director of a company that is registered in that enforcement country. The only enforcement country currently named in the regulations is Australia, with which New Zealand has a reciprocal enforcement arrangement for low-level fines. The residency requirements outlined above, however, do not apply to a branch of an overseas company registered in New Zealand as a result of "carrying on business" in New Zealand.

New Zealand's Goods and Services Tax (GST) on digital services supplied from abroad to New Zealand consumers came into effect in October 2016. The new GST is set at 15% on all sales over NZ$60,000 (USD 40,000) in a 12-month period, supplied by foreign digital service merchants. This threshold on sales has been introduced to align with New Zealand’s existing GST threshold for physical goods.

The gaming law regulates online gaming and requires licenses from operators. In general, licenses for Casinos are only given to Mexican companies, although there is no regulation on maximum foreign ownership. The Federal Betting and Raffles Law (Ley Federal de Juegos con Apuesta y Sorteos), which is expected to legalise online gambling, was adopted in Chamber of Deputies in December 2014. However, the bill became stalled in the Economic Committee in the senate.

Customs procedures for express packages are reported to be burdensome, although Mexico has raised the de minimis level (below which shipments are exempt from customs duties) from USD 1 to USD 50 / 34 SDR.

USTR has reported that custom procedures for express delivery packages is burdensome, which in turn creates delays from e-commerce companies from abroad sending packages through these services. The courier is further 100% liable for the content in the shipment.

Equipments that utilize a telecom interface require in-country type approval by the Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones (IFETEL), which may require up to two samples. Local representation as part of the approval process is also required.

IFETEL is also enforcing in-country radio frequency testing under Resolution NOM-121, which applies to frequency bands 902-928 MHz, 2400-2483.5 MHz and 5725-5850 MHz for an equipment utilizing spread spectrum technology in these bands.

In May 2011, the United States and Mexico signed a bilateral telecom MRA to ensure Mexico has the necessary system in place to accept test results from U.S. labs. This agreement has not been yet enforced.

Product certification in Mexico can only be undertaken by certification bodies accredited by the Entidad Mexicana de Acreditación (EMA). For IT equipment and consumer electronics, the Mexican agency issuing certificates is the Underwriters Laboratories of Mexico. Additionally, three US-based certifying bodies have been accepted as equivalent by the Mexican government. Supplier's Declarations of Conformity are not eligible for recognition.

Participation of foreign companies in the standard-setting process is reported to be ad-hoc and informal.

Mexico requires non-automatic licensing for a number of digital goods and inputs.