Parliament has passed new laws intended to better protect children from drowning in swimming pools, while also making the requirements more practical and enforceable.

Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith says the most important safety improvement in this Bill is the compulsory nationwide requirement for all swimming pools to be inspected and certified every three years.

'This addresses the problem that most drownings today occur because gates no longer close, fences have not been maintained or other changes have occurred that enable children to get access,” says Nick.

'Half of inspected pools have been found to be non-compliant, exposing children to risk.”

The law change in 1987 requiring swimming pools to be fenced reduced the accidental drowning of children from more than 100 per decade to about 20 per decade. The measures in the Building (Pools) Amendment Bill take effect on 1 January 2017 and are expected to save an additional six young children's lives per decade.

'The other safety improvements are the requirements on retailers and manufacturers to inform purchasers of their legal obligations for child safety and introducing new enforcement tools such as notices to fix and infringement notices.

'Councils have been reluctant to enforce the existing law because of the high cost of a full court prosecution. These new tools will help improve compliance.”

The new law also no longer requires New Zealand's 100,000 spa pools to be fenced. Instead, a lockable child-resistant cover will be satisfactory, as long as the spa is 76omm above ground.

Garden and drainage ponds will also be excluded from the fencing requirements.