285Awarding costs

1. The Environment Court may order any party to proceedings before it to pay to any other party the costs and expenses (including witness expenses) incurred by the other party that the court considers reasonable.

2. Subsection (1) does not apply if the Environment Court makes an order under section 308H(2).

3. The Environment Court may order any party to proceedings before it to pay to the Crown all or any part of the court's costs and expenses.

4. Subsection (3) does not apply if the Environment Court makes an order under section 308H(3).

5. In proceedings under section 87G, 149T, 198E, or 198K, the Environment Court must,—

6. when deciding whether to make an order under subsection (1) or (3),—
   1. apply a presumption that costs under subsections (1) and (3) are not to be ordered against a person who is a party under section 274(1); and
   2. apply a presumption that costs under subsection (3) are to be ordered against the applicant; and
7. when deciding on the amount of any order it decides to make, have regard to the fact that the proceedings are at first instance.

8. The Environment Court may order a party who fails to proceed with a hearing at the time the court arranges, or who fails to give adequate notice of the abandonment of the proceedings, to pay to any other party or to the Crown any of the costs and expenses incurred by the other party or the Crown.

9. The Environment Court may order an applicant to pay the costs and expenses that a consent authority or a territorial authority incurred in assisting the court in relation to a report provided by the authority under section 87F, 165ZFE(6), 198D, or 198J and that the court considers reasonable.

10. In deciding whether to make an order under subsection (7), the court must apply a presumption that such costs are to be ordered against the applicant.

Notes

• Section 285: replaced, on 1 October 2009, by section 130 of the Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Act 2009 (2009 No 31).
• Section 285(7): inserted, on 4 September 2013, by section 47 of the Resource Management Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 63).
• Section 285(8): inserted, on 4 September 2013, by section 47 of the Resource Management Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 63).