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Copying standards content? You need to know about copyright

All the documents we publish are protected by copyright. It is illegal to make copies or reproduce content without permission.

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Purchasing a Standards New Zealand document does not entitle you to make copies of, or reproduce, any content from that document without our permission. All standards documents we publish and sell through the webshop, including joint and international standards, are protected by copyright, and this applies whether the document is an electronic file or a printed hard copy.

Standards are created for the use of practitioners to implement within your business. This informs what you do and how you do it or what specifications to follow. However, when the actual content within a standard is replicated and used elsewhere away from the original source, without permission, this breaches copyright.

Examples of breaches of copyright could include:

  • Copying any content out of a standard to put into training materials.
  • Using content within an app or other software, including use within AI tools and other applications.
  • Selling standards from an unauthorised platform.

We take copyright breaches seriously and infringing copyright has serious legal consequences under the Copyright Act 1994. They can undermine the integrity of the content within standards. They also affect our revenue generation that is essential to maintain our services and products as your national standards body.

We want people to follow and use standards. Material from a standard can be used and copied if you have a copyright licence that specifically allows you to do this. We consider requests for copyright licences on a case-by-case basis and may charge a fee for these. You can make a request for a copyright licence using our licensing enquiry form(external link).–

We encourage innovation and are open to working together with third parties to make standards content more accessible. If you are developing a digital tool or app and would like to use standards content, contact us regarding our digital products licensing (DPL)

Find more information on our website:

Publications and copyright(external link)