The gift cards that can keep on giving: law requires minimum three-year expiry

New Zealanders collectively lose more than $10m on unspent gift cards every year, according to Consumer NZ. (Image: Getty)

Jem Traylen

Thu, 12 Sep 2024

Most gift cards will be legally required to have an expiry date of at least three years, bringing an end to tens of millions of dollars of wasted gifts.Parliament amended the Fair Trading Act on Wednesday to stipulate that “a card or voucher (in whatever form) that is redeemable for goods or services” must have an expiry date of no less than three years, which has to be displayed on the card.This is similar to Australian law, but some countries, such as the US, have a five-year minimum. Canadian federal law doesn’t permit any...

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