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Food Act 2014

Provisions relating to recognition, territorial authorities, administration, and enforcement - Payment of statutory debt

216: Waiver of penalty

You could also call this:

"Not having to pay a penalty if you disagreed with the Ministry about a debt"

Illustration for Food Act 2014

The chief executive can stop you paying all or part of a penalty if you had a genuine dispute with the Ministry about whether you owed the debt or how much you owed. This is according to the rules in section 215. The chief executive can also stop you paying all or part of a penalty if they think there is another good reason to do so.

If you go to court because you have not paid a debt, the court can also stop you paying all or part of a penalty added to the debt under section 215. The court will do this if they are satisfied that you did not pay the debt because you had a genuine dispute with the Ministry about whether you owed the debt or how much you owed.

The court or chief executive will look at whether you had a genuine dispute with the Ministry about your debt, including whether you owed the debt or how much you owed, before deciding whether to stop you paying all or part of a penalty.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM2996328.

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Part 4Provisions relating to recognition, territorial authorities, administration, and enforcement
Payment of statutory debt

216Waiver of penalty

  1. The chief executive may waive the payment of all or any part of the penalty added to the debt under section 215 if he or she is satisfied that the failure or refusal of a person to pay all or any part of a statutory debt was a result of a genuine dispute between the person and the Ministry as to either or both of the following:

  2. the person’s liability to pay the debt:
    1. the amount of the debt.

      1. The chief executive may also waive the payment of all or any part of the penalty if he or she is satisfied that there is some other good reason for waiving payment.

      2. In any action for the recovery of a statutory debt, the court may waive the payment of all or any part of the penalty added to the debt under section 215 if the court is satisfied that the failure or refusal of a person to pay all or any part of a statutory debt was a result of a genuine dispute between the person and the Ministry as to either or both of the following:

      3. the person’s liability to pay the debt:
        1. the amount of the debt.