A series of ductile moment resisting reinforced concrete frames are sized to meet the minimum seismic provisions of the New Zealand Loadings Standard, NZS 4203-1992, the Draft NZ/Australian Loadings Standard, the Uniform Building Code, UBC-1997, the International Building code, IBC 2000 (1998 draft) and Eurocode 8 (1998 draft). The results of the analyses allow valid comparisons to be made between the different codes. It is shown that comparisons of individual clauses can be misleading due to the many interactions that occur between clauses. Comparative analyses were made for the buildings described above located in both high and low seismic regions. It is shown that the strength and stiffness requirements for both the New Zealand Loadings Standard and the Draft Standard are low compared with the other codes of practice in the high seismic zone. It is recommended that the required design strengths in the Draft NZ/Australian Standard be increased.