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317: Notification of application
or “When someone asks for an enforcement order, they must tell everyone affected within 5 working days.”

You could also call this:

“This tells you that people can explain their side of the story before the court makes a decision about an enforcement order.”

When you ask for an enforcement order, the Environment Court needs to hear from you and the person you’re asking the order against. This is your right to be heard.

You’ll get to explain your side of things to the court. The person you want the order against can also speak if they want to. But they need to tell the court they want to speak within 15 working days after they find out about your request.

There’s one exception to this rule. If you’re asking for an interim enforcement order, which is a quick, temporary order, the court might not hear from everyone first. You can find more about this in section 320.

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Next up: 319: Decision on application

or “The Environment Court decides whether to make or refuse an order after looking at the request.”

Part 12 Declarations, enforcement, and ancillary powers
Enforcement orders

318Right to be heard

  1. Except as provided in section 320 (which relates to interim enforcement orders), before deciding an application for an enforcement order, the Environment Court shall—

  2. hear the applicant; and
    1. hear any person against whom the order is sought who wishes to be heard, but only if that person notifies the Registrar that he or she wishes to be heard within 15 working days after the date on which he or she was notified of the application.
      Notes
      • Section 318: amended, on , pursuant to section 6(2)(a) of the Resource Management Amendment Act 1996 (1996 No 160).
      • Section 318(b): amended, on , by section 55 of the Resource Management Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 63).