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National deputy leader Bill English says government departments may have effectively been breaching electoral laws for seven months by using the term "Labour-led Government" on their websites.
Mr English yesterday released advice from the State Services Commission to chief executives of 120 government departments in July advising them to be "very cautious" when referring to political parties on department material.
Under the Electoral Finance Act, government departments are forbidden from election advertising.
Advice to State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie, based on a Crown Law Office opinion, said the use of "Labour-led Government" or other party names "may breach the Electoral Finance Act because they could be seen as persuading voters to vote or not to vote for a particular party".
Mr Rennie subsequently told government departments while it depended on context, using "Labour-led Government" or other party references would not usually be "relevant or appropriate".
A check of government department websites by SSC found 13,600 uses of the term - although 11,200 were on the Beehive website which contains ministers' press releases.
Mr English said the practice had not stopped, despite Finance Minister Michael Cullen removing the term from Budget documents in May.
State Services Commission advice said other potentially problematic terms included references to an MP's electorate, "Clark Government" and to other political parties.
The Ministries of Social Development and Economic Development were the main offenders, recording 19 and 42 uses of the term respectively.
The advice was based on an opinion from the Crown Law Office - which was not released - on whether there were Electoral Finance Act implications on the use of the term.
It was issued in July, after Mr English made an Official Information Act request asking whether the term was allowed.
In Parliament yesterday, Labour minister Pete Hodgson said it was a guideline rather than a strict rule and depended on the context.
In its advice, the SSC said it might be appropriate to use the term if it was joint initiative between Labour and one of its supporting parties.
Mr English also released a sticker produced by the office of the Prime Minister in 2005, which he said was covered by the new law because it was still being distributed this year.
It carried two ticks beside the words "Modern Apprenticeships" and "Industry Training" and referred to extra funding the "Labour-led Government" had put into these areas.
A spokesman said the sticker was picked up from Labour MP Lynne Pillay's electorate office on Monday.
