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Resource Management Act 1991

Declarations, enforcement, and ancillary powers - Abatement notices

322: Scope of abatement notice

You could also call this:

“What an abatement notice is and how it can be used to stop environmental harm or law breaking.”

An enforcement officer can give you a notice called an abatement notice. This notice can tell you to stop doing something that is against the law or might harm the environment. The officer can also tell you to do something to fix a problem that you caused or to stop something bad from happening.

The notice can be about things like noise, pollution, or other environmental problems. If you are making too much noise, the officer can tell you to reduce the noise to a reasonable level, as stated in section 16. The officer can give you this notice if they think you are breaking a rule or might break a rule in the future.

The officer can add conditions to the notice, which means they can tell you what you need to do to fix the problem. They will only give you the notice if they have a good reason to believe that you are doing something wrong or might do something wrong.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM238562.

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Environment and resources > Conservation Government and voting > Local councils
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Part 12 Declarations, enforcement, and ancillary powers
Abatement notices

322Scope of abatement notice

  1. An abatement notice may be served on any person by an enforcement officer—

  2. requiring that person to cease, or prohibiting that person from commencing, anything done or to be done by or on behalf of that person that, in the opinion of the enforcement officer,—
    1. contravenes or is likely to contravene this Act, any regulations, a rule in a plan, or a resource consent; or
      1. is or is likely to be noxious, dangerous, offensive, or objectionable to such an extent that it has or is likely to have an adverse effect on the environment:
      2. requiring that person to do something that, in the opinion of the enforcement officer, is necessary to ensure compliance by or on behalf of that person with this Act, any regulations, a rule in a plan or a proposed plan, or a resource consent, and also necessary to avoid, remedy, or mitigate any actual or likely adverse effect on the environment—
        1. caused by or on behalf of the person; or
          1. relating to any land of which the person is the owner or occupier:
          2. requiring that person, being—who is contravening section 16 (which relates to unreasonable noise) to adopt the best practicable option of ensuring that the emission of noise from that land or water does not exceed a reasonable level.
            1. an occupier of any land; or
              1. a person carrying out any activity in, on, under, or over a water body or the water within the coastal marine area,—

              2. Where any person is under a duty not to contravene a rule in a proposed plan under sections 9, 12(3), 14(2), or 15(2), an abatement notice may be issued to require a person—

              3. to cease, or prohibit that person from commencing, anything done or to be done by or on behalf of that person that, in the opinion of the enforcement officer, contravenes or is likely to contravene a rule in a proposed plan; or
                1. to do something that, in the opinion of the enforcement officer, is necessary in order to ensure compliance by or on behalf of that person with a rule in a proposed plan.

                  1. An abatement notice may be made subject to such conditions as the enforcement officer serving it thinks fit.

                  2. An abatement notice shall not be served unless the enforcement officer has reasonable grounds for believing that any of the circumstances in subsection (1) or subsection (2) exist.

                  Notes
                  • Section 322(1)(b): replaced, on , by section 146(1) of the Resource Management Amendment Act 1993 (1993 No 65).
                  • Section 322(1)(c)(ii): amended, on , by section 146(2) of the Resource Management Amendment Act 1993 (1993 No 65).