Remediation deadlines for buildings that were identified as earthquake-prone buildings under the old regime will remain the same, except: (d) where a deadline would otherwise fall after the deadline that applies under the Amendment Act, in which case the deadline is brought forward. (e) where the owner was given a shorter deadline to complete strengthening work under the old regime, the owner may apply to the appropriate territorial authority to have the longer period applied retrospectively from the date of the notice from its territorial authority under the old regime. As the Amendment Act now has a single percentage (i.e. 34% of the current Building Code3 ) against which to assess whether a building is earthquake prone, the Amendment Act also revokes the notices given to building owners under the old regime that would have required their buildings to be strengthened in excess of the new standard. Strengthening if carrying out substantial alterations The Amendment Act introduces a new requirement to strengthen earthquake-prone buildings when building owners undertake 'substantial alterations'. What constitutes 'substantial alterations' that will trigger early strengthening work is not yet clear and it is expected that this will be covered in the regulations. Exemptions and extensions under the Amendment Act Owners of the most important heritage buildings (Category 1 listed heritage buildings and buildings on the National Historic Landmarks List) are provided with an opt-in extension of up to an additional 10 years to remediate under the Amendment Act. Similarly, opt-in exemptions from the requirement to remediate may be provided on a case-by-case basis. Certain buildings are excluded under the Amendment Act, including residential buildings of less than two storeys or less than three household units. In addition, the Amendment Act excludes buildings where applying the earthquake-prone building provisions would be impractical or excessive; these exemptions apply to farm buildings, stand-alone retaining walls, fences, some monuments, bridges and tunnels. The exemption regime is to be developed under the regulations. EPB notice If a territorial authority makes an assessment that a building is earthquake prone, it must issue a notice for the building (EPB notice). EPB notices must disclose earthquake ratings and will be placed on all buildings deemed to be earthquake-prone. EPB notices are intended to improve the public's accessibility to earthquake risk information. A publicly available national register of earthquake-prone buildings has been established. Enhanced notices are to be issued for buildings on the register to help the public better differentiate between earthquake-prone buildings and encourage owners to remediate their buildings. Information on a building's earthquake-prone building classification and earthquake rating will also be available to the public. The regulations Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has developed proposals and undertaken extensive public consultation on the regulations to the Amendment Act and EPB methodology. The consultations focused on the definition of 'ultimate capacity', earthquake ratings categories and the form of EPB notices, the criteria for 'substantial alterations', and exemptions from remediation. We highlight below some of the issues being considered.