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New Zealand's 33rd sanctions round under the Russia Sanctions Act 2022 designated 65 "shadow fleet" tanker vessels involved in transporting Russian-origin crude oil, together with seven entities and two individuals based in Russia, Belarus, North Korea and Iran that refine or transport Russian oil or facilitate oil-related payments. Designated parties are subject to asset freezes and prohibitions on the supply of services (including port access, insurance, chartering and cargo handling) by New Zealand persons. The measure targets the revenue chain funding Russia's war in Ukraine rather than imposing a new tariff or trade-flow control.

New Zealand's Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment published the 5th edition of the Government Procurement Rules, effective 1 December 2025, replacing the prior "broader outcomes" framework with a new Rule 8 mandating that agencies "seek economic benefits to New Zealand" in every procurement above the standard thresholds (NZD 100,000 for goods/services and refurbishment works; NZD 9 million for construction works). Agencies must set out their economic-benefit expectations in the Notice of Procurement, apply a minimum 10% evaluation weighting to economic-benefit criteria, write delivery commitments into contracts, and monitor and report on delivery. Global Trade Alert logs the measure as a "certainly harmful" discriminatory public-procurement, nes intervention given its effect of favouring New Zealand-based suppliers over foreign bidders. The 4th edition rules continue to apply to contracts entered before 1 December 2025, including existing All-of-Government panels and syndicated contracts.

New Zealand's 32nd sanctions round under the Russia Sanctions Act 2022 (Russia Sanctions Amendment Regulations (No 4) 2025, SL 2025/195) lowered the price cap on Russian-origin crude oil (HS 2709) from US$60/bbl to US$47.60/bbl, a roughly 21% cut, aligning New Zealand with the EU, UK and Canada's most recent price-cap reductions. The same instrument designated 19 individuals and entities plus 19 vessels, including Russia's GRU cyber unit 29155 (implicated in malware attacks on Ukrainian government networks), actors involved in chemical-weapons use and disinformation, additional "shadow fleet" tankers, alternative payment providers, and third-country facilitators based in North Korea and Iran supporting Russia's war effort.

New Zealand's Russia Sanctions Amendment Regulations (No 3) 2025, made under the Russia Sanctions Act 2022, came into force on 19 June 2025 designating seven entities and ten individuals -- including North Korean, Iranian and Belarusian actors supporting Russia's war effort and Russian actors involved in drone and weaponry production. The same instrument created a new "restricted ship" category under Regulation 8 and sanctioned 27 vessels in Russia's shadow fleet under it, and expanded the Regulation 12 legal-services exception. Designated parties are subject to asset freezes and prohibitions on New Zealand persons supplying services to them.