Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy has agreed to changes to the Layer Hens Welfare Code issued last year.
The egg industry says that will allow it to meet the conditions for phasing out battery cages.
The changes will give egg producers two more years in the transitional period to get rid of the cramped battery cages that animal welfare organisations condemn as being cruel, and replace them with larger colony cages.
It means the oldest cages now have to be replaced by the end of 2018, instead of 2016; and egg farmers get until end of 2020 to replace the rest of them.
But the final deadline for getting rid of all battery cages remains the same - 2022.
The changes were recommended by the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee after the industry said the earlier timetable wouldn't work.
The chairman of the Egg Producers Federation, Michael Guthrie, says it would have been physically impossible for many producers top meet the conditions especially the first deadline of four years.
Mr Guthrie says the Egg Producers Federation will report to the Minister at the end of each year on the progress the industry is making toward phasing out battery cages.
More than 80% of the eggs produced in New Zealand are laid in battery cages.