Resource Management Act 1991

Environment Court - Procedure and powers

277: Hearings and evidence generally to be public

You could also call this:

"Hearings are usually open to the public, but sometimes the court keeps things private."

When you are involved in a hearing with the Environment Court, it is usually held in public. The Environment Court can decide to hear some evidence in private or stop people from sharing certain evidence with others. This can happen if the court thinks it is more important to keep the information private than to have a public hearing.

You might wonder why the court would do this. The court makes this decision when it believes the reasons for keeping the information private are more important than the public's interest in knowing about it. The court has to weigh up the importance of keeping the information private against the public's right to know what is happening.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM237769.


Previous

276A: Evidence of documents, or

"Using copies of documents as evidence in court"


Next

277A: Powers of Environment Court in relation to evidence heard on appeal by way of rehearing, or

"The court can look at evidence again when someone asks them to review a decision."

Part 11Environment Court
Procedure and powers

277Hearings and evidence generally to be public

  1. All hearings of the Environment Court shall be held in public except as provided in subsection (2).

  2. The Environment Court may—

  3. order that any evidence be heard in private:
    1. prohibit or restrict the publication of any evidence—
      1. if it considers that the reasons for doing so outweigh the public interest in a public hearing and publication of evidence.

      Notes
      • Section 277(1): amended, on , pursuant to section 6(2)(a) of the Resource Management Amendment Act 1996 (1996 No 160).
      • Section 277(2): amended, on , pursuant to section 6(2)(a) of the Resource Management Amendment Act 1996 (1996 No 160).