Amotai verifies that supplier members meet the below criteria.

Māori or/and Pasifika-owned business are defined as enterprises where:

* Partnerships: at least 50% of each class of partnership interest is owned by Māori and/or Pasifika person(s) and such ownership must be reflected in the partnership agreement; or

* Corporations/companies: Māori and/or Pasifika person(s) own at least 50% of each class of ordinary voting shares issued and at least 50% of each class of all other shares issued; or

* Trusts: at least 50% of owner(s) of securities or assets held in trust are Māori and/or Pasifika person(s); or

* Sole proprietorship/trader: 100% ownership by a Māori and/or Pasifika person.

Māori are defined as people with Māori whakapapa and who identify as Māori.

As defined by Statistics New Zealand, Pacific peoples are people who whakapapa to, and identify as, descendants of the indigenous Pacific ethnic groups of Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga, Niue, Fiji, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and the small island states of Micronesia.

Statistics New Zealand recognises people with Indigenous Fijian ancestry as being Pacific peoples, however this does not include people of Indo-Fijian descent.

Amotai also recognises people who whakapapa to Hawai’i and Tahiti as Pacific peoples.