Cold calling in New Zealand: the rules

Is cold calling legal in NZ?

Yes. There’s no general ban on calling a business you haven’t dealt with before. What matters is how you do it: who you call, what you say, and what you do when someone says no.

The rules that apply

• Fair Trading Act 1986: don’t mislead. What you say on a call must be true, including who you are and what you’re offering. This applies to every call, to businesses and consumers alike.
• Uninvited direct sales: extra rules for consumers. If you ring a consumer uninvited and sell them something over NZ$100, they get a 5 working day cooling-off period and you must tell them about it¹. Calls to businesses buying for their business are generally outside these rules.
• Privacy Act 2020. Names, numbers and notes about people are personal information. Collect only what you need, keep it safe, and tell people what you’re doing if they ask².
• The spam law doesn’t cover calls. The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 covers email, texts and instant messages, not voice telemarketing, including calls with a recorded or synthetic voice³. Texts you send after a call are covered, so get consent first.

The Do Not Call service

New Zealand doesn’t have a government do-not-call register. The Marketing Association runs a Do Not Call service for private numbers, and its members agree not to call people on it. It doesn’t extend to business numbers⁴. Either way, keep your own do-not-call list and never call anyone who has asked you not to.

What about AI calls?

The same rules apply when an AI makes the call. Two things matter even more. First, honesty: an AI that lets someone believe they’re talking to a person risks misleading them, so it should say it’s an AI. Second, control: the business is still responsible for who gets called and what’s said.

How Ora is built for these rules

• It says it’s an AI in its first reply on every call, and whenever it’s asked.
• Sales calls go only to New Zealand business numbers on lists you upload, and a named person approves each number for the day.
• It calls only in your calling hours, within a daily limit, and tries twice at most, four hours apart.
• Anyone who asks not to be called again goes on your do-not-call list at once, in any number format.
• It only states facts you’ve approved, so it can’t invent a price or a promise.

A short checklist

• Call businesses, not households, unless you follow the consumer rules.
• Say who you are and why you’re calling, early.
• Make every claim true and checkable.
• Stop when someone says no, and record it.
• Get advice for anything unusual, such as consumer sales or regulated products.

Sources checked 29 October 2026: 1. Consumer NZ on uninvited direct sales. 2. Office of the Privacy Commissioner, the privacy principles. 3. Department of Internal Affairs, New Zealand spam law. 4. Marketing Association, Do Not Call. This article is general information, not legal advice.