Telecommunications Act 2001

Consumer matters - Dispute resolution schemes

245: Compliance with rules, binding settlements, and determinations

You could also call this:

"Following the rules of a dispute resolution scheme"

Illustration for Telecommunications Act 2001

You must follow the rules of a dispute resolution scheme if you are a member. You also have to follow the rules if you are part of a dispute that is being looked at by the scheme. The District Court can tell you to follow the scheme's rules or a binding settlement. You have to do what the scheme's rules or a binding settlement say. The District Court can make you do this if the scheme provider asks them to. The court can also change a binding settlement if it is clearly unfair. If the court tells you to pay money to someone as part of a binding settlement, you have to pay it. This is like a court judgment and can be enforced in the same way. This applies even if you were a member of the scheme at the time of the dispute, but are not a member now.

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This page was last updated on 8 October 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS134662.

Topics:

Crime and justice > Courts and legal helpMoney and consumer rights > Consumer protection

244: Procedure on appeal, or

"What happens when you appeal a decision about telecommunications"

246: Commission review of industry dispute resolution schemes, or

"The Commission checks how well problem-solving schemes work and makes sure they are fair."

Part 7Consumer matters
Dispute resolution schemes

245Compliance with rules, binding settlements, and determinations

Members of an industry dispute resolution scheme and each party to a dispute that is referred to the scheme must comply with the rules of the scheme.
On an application of the scheme provider for an industry dispute resolution scheme, the District Court may require a scheme member or other person who is a party to a dispute to do any of the following:
comply with the rules of the scheme:
comply with the terms of a binding settlement or determination made under the rules of the scheme.

If the District Court is satisfied that the terms of a binding settlement or determination are manifestly unreasonable, the court’s order under subsection (2)(b) may modify the terms of the binding settlement or determination, but only to the extent that the modification results in a binding settlement or determination that could have been made under the industry dispute resolution scheme.
If an order requiring a scheme member to comply with a binding settlement includes a requirement that the member pay an amount of money to a person, that order (or part of the order) may be enforced as if it were a judgment by the District Court for the payment of a sum of money.
A reference in this section to a scheme member includes a reference to a person who was a member of the industry dispute resolution scheme at the relevant time but is no longer a member at the time of the application or order.

Compare

2001 No 103 s 155ZM

Notes

Section 245: inserted, on 13 November 2018, by section 36 of the Telecommunications (New Regulatory Framework) Amendment Act 2018 (2018 No 48).