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  • April 15, 2026 3:16 am
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The Building Bill

ICI has prepared a Building Bill to replace the 1991 Building Control and Standards Act. 

Main changes:

  1. Update the Building Committee to a Building Board. The Board performs formal regulatory and oversight functions, including decision-making and appeals. within Building Control rather than just being an advisory committee.
  2. Strengthened enforcement mechanisms including occupancy certificates, instant fines, the ability to require testing on materials, the ability to prohibit or restrict building materials.
  3. Introduces a building trades registration system.
  4. Introduces materials certification for specified building materials.
  5. Provides the ability to expand the reach of the legislation to the rest of the Pa Enua.

Look through the Parliamentary Select Committee Briefing presentation and speaker notes for a snapshot of the Bill.

We invite industry members to go to the dedicated pages that apply to them and fill out the questionnaires and review the documents for clarity and usability:

  • Builders and building trades and companies, please click here.
  • Building material suppliers, please click here.


Read the full Bill here.

Read the Explanatory Note here. The Explanatory Note explains each clause in the Bill in plain language.

Regulations and process

ICI is currently preparing the regulations and associated processes to give effect to the various clauses in the Building Bill. At this stage, five sets of regulations are proposed. They are:

  1. Administration and permitting regulations – These will establish the application procedures, forms, inspection requirements, certificates, and delegation processes under the Act.
  2. Building Code and standards applications regulations – Will apply the Cook Islands Building Code, and any recognised standards.
  3. Registration of Building Trades and Practitioners Regulations – Establishes the registration and discipline processes of building practitioners and related trades.
  4. Compliance and Enforcement Regulations – Prescribes procedures for enforcement of the Act.
  5. Fees and Charges Regulations – Prescribes fees payable for permits, inspections, confirmations of compliance, practitioner registration, and other services provided under the Act.

Targeted consultation sessions were held in November 2025 to inform affected stakeholders of the proposed changes and to gather feedback to support the development of the regulations and implementation processes. A session for importers, manufacturers, and sellers of building materials was held on 18 November 2025. A separate session focusing on building practitioners and trades registration was held on 19 November 2025, followed by a general public awareness session on 20 November 2025.

These consultations were intended to inform industry participants of upcoming changes that directly affect them and to obtain feedback to help shape the regulations and processes for building materials compliance (section 30) and the registration of building practitioners.

To support these consultations, ICI prepared targeted questions and feedback forms for each sector to enable participants to provide structured responses. This feedback was intended to inform the preparation of the regulations and associated processes.