Under the Legislation Act 2019, the objective of the PCO is to promote high-quality legislation that is easy to find, use, and understand and, to that end, to exercise stewardship of New Zealand's legislation as a whole.
The functions of the PCO are to:
- draft, publish, and consolidate legislation
- revise Acts in accordance with the current revision programme
- examine local and private Bills, and Members' Bills that the Attorney-General directs to be examined, and report to the Attorney-General on their effect
advise departments and agencies on the drafting of secondary legislation not drafted by the PCO
- guide, support, and review practices relating to the design, drafting, and publication of legislation.