Resource Management Act 1991

Declarations, enforcement, and ancillary powers - Offences

339: Penalties

You could also call this:

"What happens if you break the law: fines and punishments"

If you break the law under section 338, you can get in trouble. You might have to pay a fine or go to jail. The fine can be up to $300,000 if you are a person, or up to $600,000 if you are a company.

If you keep breaking the law, you can get fined more. You might have to pay up to $10,000 for each day you break the law. If you break a different part of the law, under section 338, you can get fined up to $10,000.

A court can also make you do community work as a punishment. The court can look at the Sentencing Act 2002 to decide what to do.

If you are found guilty, the court can make other orders too. These orders can include things like making a consent authority review a resource consent. You can get in trouble if you keep doing something that is against the law, even if it is just sometimes.

If you do something that is against the law, and you keep doing it, that is called a continuing offence.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM239042.


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338: Offences against this Act, or

"Breaking the Resource Management Act rules is against the law"


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Part 12Declarations, enforcement, and ancillary powers
Offences

339Penalties

  1. Every person who commits an offence against section 338(1), (1A), or (1B) is liable on conviction,—

  2. in the case of a natural person, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or a fine not exceeding $300,000:
    1. in the case of a person other than a natural person, to a fine not exceeding $600,000.
      1. Every person who commits an offence against section 338(1), (1A), or (1B) is also liable on conviction, if the offence is a continuing one, to a fine not exceeding $10,000 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues.

      2. Every person who commits an offence against section 338(2) is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000, and, if the offence is a continuing one, to a further fine not exceeding $1,000 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues.

      3. Every person who commits an offence against section 338(3) is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,500.

      4. A court may sentence any person who commits an offence against this Act to a sentence of community work, and the provisions of Part 2 of the Sentencing Act 2002, with all necessary modifications, apply accordingly.

      5. If a person is convicted of an offence against section 338, the court may, instead of or in addition to imposing a fine or a term of imprisonment, make 1 or more of the following orders:

      6. the orders specified in section 314:
        1. an order requiring a consent authority to serve notice, under section 128(2), of the review of a resource consent held by the person, but only if the offence involves an act or omission that contravenes the consent.
          1. The continued existence of anything, or the intermittent repetition of any actions, contrary to any provision of this Act shall be deemed to be a continuing offence.

          Notes
          • Section 339(1): replaced, on , by section 139(1) of the Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Act 2009 (2009 No 31).
          • Section 339(1A): inserted, on , by section 139(1) of the Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Act 2009 (2009 No 31).
          • Section 339(2): amended, on , by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).
          • Section 339(3): amended, on , by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).
          • Section 339(4): replaced, on , by section 186 of the Sentencing Act 2002 (2002 No 9).
          • Section 339(5): replaced, on , by section 139(2) of the Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Act 2009 (2009 No 31).