RMA enforcement

Purpose of this section

The purpose of this section of the website is to:

• help enforcement officers in their investigation of incidents
• explain the enforcement mechanisms with reference to case law, precedents and checklists
• help enforcement officers to select the most appropriate enforcement mechanism
• help enforcement officers in the effective and correct application of the enforcement mechanism selected.

Contents of this section

• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Investigation of incidents
• Infringement offences
• Abatement notices
• Noise
• Application for an enforcement order
• Application for an interim enforcement order
• Prosecution
• Water shortage directions
• Emergency works
• Application for a declaration
• Miscellaneous
• Scenarios
• Glossary and Cases

Because each local authority has different procedures and guidelines for staff, it is recommended that you insert your internal guidelines and procedures for enforcement in any hard copy of this section you print off for easy reference. For example:

• some local authorities require a resolution of council to prosecute, whereas other local authorities have delegated this decision to staff
• some local authorities issue two different warrants to enforcement officers - a standard warrant is issued to most enforcement officers and authorises those officers to carry out any of the functions, duties and powers provided in sections 22, 322, 327, 332 and 333, while another warrant is issued to more senior or experienced officers, which gives them the power to make a decision as to whether emergency works should be taken pursuant to s 330.

When selecting an enforcement mechanism, the procedures and guidelines specific to the local authority concerned must be followed.

The headings of chapters 1 to 10 are self-explanatory. The miscellaneous chapter (Chapter 11) includes information on:

• Court filing fees and expenses for witnesses
• the service of documents.

These topics apply to a number of the enforcement mechanisms. The miscellaneous chapter also contains information on the weight to be given to a proposed plan and a copy of the Environment Court practice notes.

Chapter 12 provides a number of hypothetical scenarios to illustrate how an enforcement officer might apply the Act in different situations.

Disclaimer

This guidance material is not a do-it-yourself guide to enforcement. The authors - the Ministry for the Environment and Local Government New Zealand (the original producer of this guidance material) - recommend that local authorities take legal advice, when appropriate, when enforcement mechanisms under the Resource Management Act are used.

This guidance material is intended to provide accurate and adequate information pertaining to the subject matters in the material within the limitations of the size of the material. This RMA enforcement material has been written, edited and published, and is made available to all persons and entities, strictly on the basis that its authors, the Ministry for the Environment and Local Government New Zealand, fully exclude any liability in any way to any person or entity for damages in respect of or arising out of any reliance in part or full, by such person or entity or by any other person or entity, upon any of the contents of the RMA enforcement guidance material for any purpose.