World Health Organization (WHO) Member States are working together to make targeted amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005).
The International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) define countries’ rights and obligations in handling public health events and emergencies that have the potential to cross borders. They are the principal international legal framework for preventing and controlling the spread of disease and other public health hazards between countries to protect the health of their citizens.
Implementing the IHR supported New Zealand’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the IHR continue to serve countries well, COVID-19 has shown us that we can strengthen the IHR to ensure the regulations are fit for purpose in future. It is in all of our interests that the IHR are improved to further enhance countries’ early detection, assessment, responses to and reporting of potentially significant health events.
Signing IHR changes may create new international legal obligations for New Zealand. However, this does not automatically change New Zealand law – only the New Zealand Parliament can do this.
Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations
At the 75th World Health Assembly in May 2022, governments agreed to establish the Working Group on the International Health Regulations (WGIHR) to develop a package of targeted amendments to the IHR. As a first step, the WHO Director-General asked Member States to share their proposals on how the IHR could be strengthened. Over 300 proposed amendments were submitted.
The aim is to present these amendments, agreed to by the Working Group, to the 77th World Health Assembly in May 2024. Information on the latest proposals to amend the regulations can be found at Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005) on the World Health Organization website.
The WGIHR’s work is facilitated by a leadership group called a ‘Bureau’, comprising Member States from all WHO regions. New Zealand has been selected as the Bureau Member for the Western Pacific Region. Former Director-General of Health, Sir Ashley Bloomfield, as the New Zealand Bureau member, is co-chairing this negotiation alongside Dr Abdullah Asiri of Saudi Arabia.
Note: Negotiations to amend the IHR are taking place at the same time as negotiations on a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, also referred to as the ‘pandemic treaty’. These two international negotiations are dealing with similar matters and depending on how the negotiations develop could cover similar topics.
More information on the ‘pandemic treaty’ can be found on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s website.
Cabinet mandate
New Zealand’s negotiating mandate for the proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations 2005 was renewed by Cabinet on 19 February 2024.
The mandate states:
- New Zealand should support an approach which preserves the right of States under international law to legislate, make policy and to implement measures in pursuance of their health objectives.
- New Zealand should seek international rules with flexible reservation.
- New Zealand should seek international rules with clear and practical prevention measures to address situations where significant risks of pandemic threats may arise, particularly in countries where humans live in close contact with wild animals.
- New Zealand should support international rules that enable effective capacity building and assistance to developing countries to meet their obligations.
- New Zealand should support proposals that assist developing countries to prevent and respond to pandemics where those proposals have a wide level of support (including from New Zealand’s close partners), are practicable, effective, will provide real benefits to Pacific countries, and do not adversely affect New Zealand’s broader interests.
- New Zealand should support clear and credible transparency and accountability obligations on States and the WHO.
- New Zealand should support international rules that uphold respect for fundamental human rights.
- New Zealand should support international rules that are consistent with other areas of international law, including trade and intellectual property law.
- New Zealand should support approaches which are consistent with the existing mandate of the WHO and do not undermine the mandate of other international organisations.
Documents related to the IHR negotiating position mandate have also been proactively released and can be found here:
Rejection of technical amendments of Article 59
On 29 November 2023, Cabinet reserved New Zealand’s position as to whether the 2022 technical amendments of Article 59 to the International Health Regulations (IHR) (in their entirety) should enter into force for New Zealand. This will allow the Government to conduct a ‘national interest test’ on the amendments.
These specific amendments reduce the timeframe within which any future amendments to the IHR would enter into force. The consequence of this reservation is that New Zealand will adhere to the former provisions, which give us 24 months to prepare for future amendments, and 18 months to decide whether to opt out. Other countries will have 12 months and 10 months respectively.
On 19 February 2024, Cabinet agreed that the technical amendments would be considered together with the National Interest Analysis for the additional and more substantive amendments to the IHR. These substantive IHR negotiations are ongoing, and no additional amendments have been finalised.
Any decision for New Zealand to become party to any amendments to the existing International Health Regulations or a new instrument or treaty will be decided by the New Zealand Government, once negotiations are concluded. This would be subject to New Zealand’s full treaty making process which includes Cabinet approval, a national interest analysis, and parliamentary treaty examination to determine whether these changes are in New Zealand’s interest.
Public consultation on the amendments
In early 2024, the Ministry of Health set up a survey for the public to submit their views on the more than 300 initially proposed IHR amendments submitted by WHO member states, including New Zealand.
We asked New Zealanders to consider the following questions in their submission:
- Are there aspects of the proposed amendments which you think New Zealand should support or oppose?
- Is there any other information you would like to provide that would help to develop our position on negotiations to amend the International Health Regulations (2005)?
The consultation ran from 17 January to 18 February 2024 with approximately 3600 responses received. A summary of the responses is available at:
The consultation is one step to inform New Zealand’s position for the ongoing negotiations. Other steps that are still required before New Zealand agrees to be bound by changes to the IHRs include seeking agreement from Cabinet, conducting a National Interest Analysis, and presenting that Analysis and the text of the IHR changes to Parliament for Treaty Examination.
Related websites
You can access more information at International Health Regulations on Te Whatu Ora’s website.
You can access more information on the Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005) on the World Health Organization website.
In addition, the WHO keeps the global health community well updated on progress achieved in the WGIHR via regular press releases.