Using our application system (HARP)

What the Health Advisory and Regulatory Platform is

The Health Advisory and Regulatory Platform (HARP) is a web-based system the Ministry of Health uses to operate most of our regulatory services relating to smokefree and vaping laws.

You can use HARP to:

• register general retailers
• apply to become specialist retailers
• register new vaping products
• send in a complaint
• report an adverse reaction to a vaping product
• check the status of your applications and approvals in HARP at any time and find your invoices.

It works best on a computer instead of on phones or tablets.

How to create a HARP account

You will need a ‘My Health Account’ first, to log in to HARP. If you don’t already have one, create one using the instructions on Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora’s website

Once you’ve created your ‘My Health Account’, go to HARP and click ‘Log in’.

If it’s your first time accessing HARP, you will be asked to give consent in your ‘My Health Account’ for it to connect to HARP and share your details to HARP. To create an account you must click ‘Allow’ in your My Health Account.

Request access to the right HARP portals

HARP has a number of portals, so once you have an account you need to get access to the relevant portal for you. This is known as an ‘access request,’ or an ‘ACCREG”, for short.

To choose your portal access, click on Manufacturer/Importer/Distributor/Retailer, and complete the online form for an access request. The three portal options are:

• I want to submit an application to become a Specialist Vape Retailer
• I want to submit a Product Notification for a Notifiable Product
• I want to notify the Director-General that I sell Regulated Products at wholesale and/or retail.

General retailers of vaping and other products (not specialist vape retailers) will in most cases need to choose the third option – regulated products at wholesale and/or retail.

The Ministry of Health needs to assess and approve your access request, which takes between 5–10 working days. You will receive an email when the access registration has been completed, or if we need more information to approve it.

In HARP, an access request is called an ACCREG, and will be assigned a number. It will look something like ACCREG-12345. Your access request is just to get access and is not the final step – you still need to submit your application after the access request is approved.

How to submit an application or registration

Once your portal access (ACCREG) is approved, you are now able to start your applications(s).

1. In HARP, click ‘New Submission’. This will take you to a screen to choose the type of application you’d like to fill out.
2. Complete your application or registration forms.
3. You will have the option to pay the fee(s) online by card, or transfer it later by bank transfer. Remember that applications won’t be processes until the fees are paid.

You can also save your application at any time and come back to finish it later. You do not need to complete your application form in one go. It is important that you do not submit your application until it is complete, as you cannot edit completed applications in HARP.

For people applying to become specialist vape retailers

Under ‘VRA Applications,’ you will need to click into and complete both a ‘Specialist Vape Retailer (SVR) Application,’ and a ‘Approved Vaping Premises (AVP) Application’.

Read more about applying to be a specialist vape retailer.

For people who are a general retailer

Under ‘VRA Applications,’ click ‘Regulated Product Seller Notification,’ and enter the details the form asks for. You will be asked to choose the type of products you sell – if you sell more than one type, click all that apply.

For importers, manufacturers and distributors of vaping and other notifiable products

Under ‘VRA Applications,’ click ‘Regulated Product Seller Notification,’ and enter the details the form asks for.

For people notifying individual products

Under ‘VRA Applications,’ click ‘Product Notification’ and complete the form.

Receiving and paying your invoice

In HARP, an invoice is called an ‘order.’ Each order has a unique code that will look something like ‘ODR-1234,’. After submitting your applications in HARP, you then need to finalise your order - this takes a few steps.

Once you submit your application or registration (notification), click on ‘My Submissions’ in the top right corner of the screen. In ‘My Submissions,’ click on ‘My Orders’, where you will see a list of all invoices/orders you have had. Click on the price to open the order.

Once you have reviewed the order and checked it appears right, you then need to click ‘Next.’ You will need to review the next screen and click ‘Next’ again, then click ‘Save.’ Finally, you can click ‘Submit Order.’ You can then click ‘Pay Now’ to pay online by credit card. Otherwise, you can click ‘Other Options’ to email the invoice to yourself if you would prefer to pay by bank transfer.

Online card payments incur a 2% card payment fee.

People with more than one business, or businesses with more than one person

If your business has more than one person who needs to use HARP, each of these people can be linked to that business, but each person must have their own HARP access account. If you have more than one business, your HARP access account can be connected to all of your businesses, provided you are authorised to act for each business.

Each person should create their own account log in from HARP, as well as their own account registration (ACCREG) for each business they are responsible for. They must use the same email address and user details each time or HARP may create duplicate records and they may not then be able to see all their businesses when they try to lodge applications or product notifications.

Guidance documents to complete applications in HARP

These documents are additional guidance for using the HARP platform to complete the application forms – it does not include the guidance from our website. Please ensure you follow all guidance from our website before completing the applications following the information in these HARP user guides.

How to apply guide – Product Notifications (Word, 4.2 MB)

How to apply guide – Product Notifications (PDF, 1.3 MB)

How to apply – Specialist Vape Retailer Applications (Word, 4.1 MB)

How to apply – Specialist Vape Retailer Applications (PDF, 1.6 MB)