Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

New Zealand has designated four international groups as terrorist entities, despite the United Nations not having listed them as such.

The groups are Spain's Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), the Kurdistan Workers Party known as the PKK from Turkey, Somalia-based Al Shabaab and Colombia's Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC.

Prime Minister John Key says the groups have engaged in a range of terrorist acts, including the indiscriminate killing of civilians and the assassination of political leaders.

It is the first time New Zealand has designated terrorist entities not listed by the UN.

The move means any assets held by the groups and found in New Zealand will be frozen, and it becomes a criminal offence to deal with their property or make financial services available to them.