LEGAL
Terms of use.
Dated 5 October 2026
01 Agreement to terms
These Terms apply to your use of the New Zealand Vessel Register website and its related services. They are run by NZBP Limited (“NZBP”, “we”, “us”, “our”), a New Zealand limited company (NZBN 9429053933454). By using the website or its related services, you agree to these Terms.
02 Who you contract with
The New Zealand Vessel Register and its related services are provided by NZBP Limited. When you register your boat with us, your contract is with NZBP Limited.
We may ask other people to do part of the work. If we do, we stay responsible to you for the service under that contract.
The service terms you accept with your application set out what the service includes, the fee, refunds, and how disagreements are resolved. Where the service terms differ from these Terms, the service terms apply to your application.
03 Website and public records
This website gives information about the register and the public record of each boat on it. A record shows what was declared, supplied or checked at the date shown. It does not tell you the condition of the boat today.
You may use the website and its public records to find information and check boats, for any lawful purpose. You must not:
- Try to get unauthorised access to the website or its systems
- Interfere with the operation or security of the service
- Upload or send viruses or other harmful code
- Copy records in bulk, by hand or by automated means, without our permission
- Misrepresent a vessel record, a plate, an assessor, or a connection with us
- Use the service in breach of any law or regulation
04 What registration means
To register your boat on the NZVR, you give us the boat's details and the boat has an inspection by qualified personnel. If the boat has a conformance assessment under the NZBP scheme, that assessment includes the inspection. If the boat complies with an existing certification scheme we recognise, we may still need to inspect it, depending on its age and condition.
The NZVR is a voluntary registration scheme. Registering a boat on it does not guarantee anything about that boat's fitness or condition, and it is not evidence of who owns the boat.
Once your boat is registered on the NZVR, you can choose to have a conformance assessment under the NZBP scheme. Qualified personnel then check whether the boat meets a defined standard.
Registration on the NZVR and assessment under the NZBP scheme do not replace safe operation, maintenance, a pre-purchase inspection, an insurance survey, any certificate the law requires, or professional advice for your circumstances.
05 Copyright and intellectual property
Unless we say otherwise, the content of this website and the way the register is presented are owned by or licensed to us, and are protected by intellectual property law. You must not copy, change, distribute or make commercial use of that content without our written consent first.
You may view, download or share a single public vessel record to check a boat, or for its ownership, sale or insurance, as long as you do not change it or present it in a misleading way.
Place names in our forms
Sourced from the LINZ Data Service and licensed for reuse under CC-BY 4.0.
Contains place names from the New Zealand Gazetteer, Toitū Te Whenua LINZ, licensed for reuse under CC-BY 4.0.
Source: Stats NZ and licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under CC-BY 4.0.
This work is based on/includes MPI data which is licensed by Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
06 Disclaimer and liability
We provide the website “as is” and “as available”. To the fullest extent the law allows, we give no warranty that the website will always be available, or that every detail supplied by someone else is complete, current or free of error.
To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss from using this website, being unable to use it, or relying on it. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits rights or liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including rights under the Fair Trading Act 1986 and the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993.
07 Other organisations and links
The website may name independent builders, dealers, assessors and other professional organisations, and may link to their websites. Unless we say otherwise, those organisations are independent of us. We are not responsible for their websites, whether they are available, what they say, or the professional services they provide.
08 Privacy
Your use of this website is also subject to our privacy policy.
09 Governing law
New Zealand law governs these Terms, and only the courts of New Zealand can decide a dispute about them. If any part of these Terms is invalid or unenforceable, that part is removed and the rest continues to apply.
11 Contact
New Zealand Vessel Register
Operated by NZBP Limited
NZBN: 9429053933454
Email: info@buildersplate.nz