Resource Management Act 1991

Miscellaneous provisions

352: Service of documents

You could also call this:

"How to give someone a document for the Resource Management Act"

Illustration for Resource Management Act 1991

When you need to give someone a document for the Resource Management Act, you can do it in several ways. You can deliver it to the person, leave it at their home or work, send it by post, or email it to them. You can also follow a method set out in regulations made under section 360.

If the document is for a court case, the court might have its own rules for how to give the document. The Electronic Courts and Tribunals Act 2016 also has rules that you need to follow.

When you give a document to a Minister, you can give it to the chief executive of their department instead. If you are giving a document to a company or a group of people, you can give it to one of the people in charge or to their office.

If you send a document by post, it is assumed that the person gets it when it would normally arrive. You can also give documents to a Crown organisation in special ways, such as delivering it to their head office or sending it to their fax number or electronic address.

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This page was last updated on 10 September 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM239099.

Topics:

Environment and resources > Town planningGovernment and voting > Government departments

351: Regulations, or

"Rules that explain how to follow the law, but they're not used anymore"

352A: Mode of service of summons on master or owner of ship, or

"How a ship's owner or master gets a summons if they break the law"

Part 14Miscellaneous provisions

352Service of documents

A notice or any other document required or authorised to be served on or given to a person for the purposes of this Act may be served or given by—
delivering it to the person (other than a Minister of the Crown); or
leaving it at the person’s usual or last known place of residence or business or at the address specified by the person in any notice, application, or other document given under this Act; or
sending it by post to the person’s usual or last known place of residence or business or to the address specified by the person in any notice, application, or other document given under this Act; or
emailing it to the person at an email address that is used by the person; or
complying with a means of service prescribed in regulations made under section 360.

However, if the document is to be served on a person to commence, or in the course of, court proceedings, subsection (1) does not apply if the court, whether expressly or in its rules or practices, requires a different method of service.
Nothing in subsection (1) overrides the provisions of the Electronic Courts and Tribunals Act 2016.
Where a notice or other document is to be served on a Minister of the Crown for the purposes of this Act, service on the chief executive of the appropriate department of the public service in accordance with subsection (1) shall be deemed to be service on the Minister.
Where a notice or other document is to be served on a body (whether incorporated or not) for the purposes of this Act, service on an officer of the body, or on the registered office of the body, in accordance with subsection (1) shall be deemed to be service on the body.
Where a notice or other document is to be served on a partnership for the purposes of this Act, service on any one of the partners in accordance with subsections (1) and (3) shall be deemed to be service on the partnership.
Despite subsection (1), if a notice or other document is to be served on a Crown organisation for the purposes of this Act, it may be served—
by delivering it at the organisation's head office or principal place of business; or
by sending it to the fax number or electronic address that the organisation has specified for its head office or principal place of business; or
by a method agreed between the organisation and the person serving the notice or document.

Where a notice or other document is sent by post to a person in accordance with subsection (1)(b)(iii) or (iv), it shall be deemed, in the absence of proof to the contrary, to be received by the person at the time at which the letter would have been delivered in the ordinary course of the post.

Notes

Section 352(1): replaced, on 21 August 2025, by section 83 of the Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 41).
Section 352(1AA): inserted, on 18 October 2017, by section 165(1) of the Resource Legislation Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 15).
Section 352(1A): inserted, on 1 March 2017, by section 36(2) of the Electronic Courts and Tribunals Act 2016 (2016 No 52).
Section 352(2): amended, on 7 August 2020, by section 135 of the Public Service Act 2020 (2020 No 40).
Section 352(4A): inserted, on 1 October 2009, by section 141(3) of the Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Act 2009 (2009 No 31).
Section 352(4A)(b): amended, on 18 October 2017, by section 165(2) of the Resource Legislation Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 15).
Section 352(5): amended, on 18 October 2017, by section 165(3) of the Resource Legislation Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 15).