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Resource Management Act 1991

Declarations, enforcement, and ancillary powers - Offences

338: Offences against this Act

You could also call this:

“This law explains the different ways people can break the rules about looking after the environment.”

You break the law if you do certain things that are not allowed. These include:

  • Going against rules about how to use land, water, and the coast.
  • Not following orders from authorities to fix problems.
  • Not obeying notices to stop doing something harmful.
  • Ignoring directions during water shortages.
  • Putting waste or other harmful things into the sea.

If you’re on a ship or offshore platform and put harmful things in the sea, you can get in trouble. The ship’s captain, owner, or the platform owner would be responsible.

You also break the law if you:

  • Don’t give information to enforcement officers when they ask.
  • Share sensitive information that should be kept secret.
  • Make too much noise and don’t stop when told to.
  • Don’t follow orders from the Environment Court.

It’s also against the law to:

  • Stop people from doing their job under this law.
  • Not show up or help when the Environment Court asks you to.
  • Go into areas that are closed off to protect nature.

If you break these rules, the authorities have 12 months to charge you once they find out about it.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM239038.

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Part 12 Declarations, enforcement, and ancillary powers
Offences

338Offences against this Act

  1. Every person commits an offence against this Act who contravenes, or permits a contravention of, any of the following:

  2. sections 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 (which impose duties and restrictions in relation to land, subdivision, the coastal marine area, the beds of certain rivers and lakes, water, and discharges of contaminants):
    1. any enforcement order:
      1. any abatement notice, other than a notice under section 322(1)(c):
        1. any water shortage direction under section 329.

          1. Every person commits an offence against this Act who contravenes or permits a contravention of section 15A or section 15C (which impose restrictions in relation to waste or other matter).

          2. Where any harmful substance or contaminant or water is discharged in the coastal marine area in breach of section 15B, the following persons each commit an offence:

          3. if the discharge is from a ship, the master and the owner of the ship:
            1. if the discharge is from an offshore installation, the owner of the installation.

              1. Every person commits an offence against this Act who contravenes, or permits a contravention of, any of the following:

              2. section 22, which relates to failure to provide certain information to an enforcement officer:
                1. section 42, which relates to the protection of sensitive information:
                  1. any excessive noise direction under section 327:
                    1. any abatement notice for unreasonable noise under section 322(1)(c):
                      1. any order (other than an enforcement order) made by the Environment Court.

                        1. Every person commits an offence against this Act who—

                        2. wilfully obstructs, hinders, resists, or deceives any person in the execution of any powers conferred on that person by or under this Act:
                          1. contravenes, or permits a contravention of, any of the following:
                            1. section 283, which relates to non-attendance or refusal to co-operate with the Environment Court:
                              1. any summons or order to give evidence issued or made pursuant to section 41:
                              2. contravenes, or permits a contravention of, any provision (as provided in Schedule 10) specified in an instrument for the creation of an esplanade strip or in an easement for an access strip, or enters a strip which is closed under section 237C.

                                1. Despite anything to the contrary in section 25 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011, the limitation period in respect of an offence against subsection (1), (1A), or (1B) ends on the date that is 12 months after the date on which the contravention giving rise to the charge first became known, or should have become known, to the local authority or consent authority.

                                Notes
                                • Section 338(1A): inserted, on , by section 19 of the Resource Management Amendment Act 1994 (1994 No 105).
                                • Section 338(1B): inserted, on , by section 19 of the Resource Management Amendment Act 1994 (1994 No 105).
                                • Section 338(2)(e): amended, on , pursuant to section 6(2)(a) of the Resource Management Amendment Act 1996 (1996 No 160).
                                • Section 338(3)(b)(i): amended, on , pursuant to section 6(2)(a) of the Resource Management Amendment Act 1996 (1996 No 160).
                                • Section 338(3)(c): inserted, on , by section 155 of the Resource Management Amendment Act 1993 (1993 No 65).
                                • Section 338(4): replaced, on , by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).
                                • Section 338(4): amended, on , by section 92 of the Resource Management Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 30).