Crown Entity

A Crown entity (from the Commonwealth term Crown) is an organisation that forms part of New Zealand's state sector established under the Crown Entities Act 2004, a unique umbrella governance and accountability statute. The Crown Entities Act is based on the corporate model where the governance of the organisation is split from the management of the organisation.

Crown entities come under the following subtypes:

• Statutory entities — bodies corporate established under an Act
  • Crown agents — organisations that give effect to government policy, such as the Accident Compensation Corporation, which administers no-fault workers compensation
  • Autonomous Crown entities (ACE), which must have regard to government policy, such as Te Papa, the national museum
  • Independent Crown entities (ICE), which are generally independent of government policy, such as the Commerce Commission, which enforces legislation promoting competition
• Crown entity companies — registered companies wholly owned by the Crown, including Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) and a small number of other companies
• Crown entity subsidiaries — companies that are subsidiaries of Crown entities
• School boards of trustees
• Tertiary education institutions, including universities, colleges of education, polytechnics, and wānanga

Crown entities can be contrasted with other New Zealand public sector organisational forms: departments of state, State-owned enterprises, offices of Parliament and sui generis organisations like the Reserve Bank.