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New Zealand law explained for everyone

Building Act 2004

Building - Safety of dams - Dam compliance certificate

150: Owner of dam must supply annual dam compliance certificate

You could also call this:

“Every year, people who own big dams must give a special paper to show they're following safety rules.”

If you own a dam with an approved safety programme, you need to give the regional authority a certificate every year. This certificate shows that you’ve followed all the safety procedures for your dam.

You must send this certificate on the anniversary of when your safety programme was approved. The certificate needs to say that you’ve followed all the procedures, except for any small issues that you mention.

You or the head of your company must sign the certificate. It needs to be in the right form and include all the required information.

You also need to get an engineer to check your reports and confirm that you’ve followed the safety procedures. The engineer must be officially recognised and provide proof of this.

You have to display a copy of the certificate in an obvious place on your dam for everyone to see.

It’s against the law to not show the certificate, show a fake one, or display it incorrectly. If you break this law, you could be fined. For a person, the fine can be up to $20,000 for not showing the certificate or showing it wrong, and up to $50,000 for showing a fake one. For a company, these fines are $60,000 and $150,000.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM307333.

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149: Who is recognised engineer, or

“A special engineer who checks dams and has the right skills, but doesn't own or make money from the dam.”

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150A: Annual dam compliance certificate requirements not to apply to accredited dam owner, or

“Trusted dam owners don't need to get a yearly safety check for their dams.”

Part 2 Building
Safety of dams: Dam compliance certificate

150Owner of dam must supply annual dam compliance certificate

  1. An owner of a dam for which a dam safety assurance programme has been approved, or is deemed to have been approved, must supply to the regional authority a dam compliance certificate in accordance with subsection (2).

  2. The dam compliance certificate must—

  3. be supplied on each anniversary of the approval, or deemed approval, of the dam safety assurance programme; and
    1. state that, except for the identified, minor items of non-compliance, all procedures in the dam safety assurance programme have been fully complied with during the previous 12 months; and
      1. be signed by,—
        1. if the owner is an individual, that individual; or
          1. if the owner is a body corporate, the chief executive of that body corporate or, if there is no chief executive, a person with an equivalent position in the body corporate; and
          2. be in the prescribed form; and
            1. contain the prescribed information; and
              1. have attached to it a certificate from an engineer that—
                1. confirms that—
                  1. the engineer has reviewed the owner's reports and other documents relating to the procedures in the dam safety assurance programme that the owner has followed in the previous 12 months; and
                    1. except for the identified, minor items of non-compliance, all procedures in the dam safety assurance programme have been complied with during the previous 12 months; and
                    2. states that the engineer is a recognised engineer; and
                      1. has attached to it evidence that the engineer is a recognised engineer.

                      2. The owner must publicly display a copy of the dam compliance certificate in a prominent place on the dam.

                      3. A person commits an offence if the person knowingly—

                      4. fails to display a dam compliance certificate that is required to be displayed under this section; or
                        1. displays a false or misleading dam compliance certificate; or
                          1. displays a dam compliance certificate otherwise than in accordance with this section.

                            1. A person who commits an offence under subsection (4)(a) or (c) is liable on conviction,—

                            2. in the case of an individual, to a fine not exceeding $20,000:
                              1. in the case of a body corporate, to a fine not exceeding $60,000.

                                1. A person who commits an offence under subsection (4)(b) is liable on conviction,—

                                2. in the case of an individual, to a fine not exceeding $50,000:
                                  1. in the case of a body corporate, to a fine not exceeding $150,000.

                                    Compare
                                      Notes
                                      • Section 150(2)(b): replaced, on , by section 46(1) of the Building Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 100).
                                      • Section 150(2)(f)(i)(B): replaced, on , by section 46(2) of the Building Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 100).
                                      • Section 150(5): replaced, on , by section 43 of the Building (Building Products and Methods, Modular Components, and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021 (2021 No 21).
                                      • Section 150(6): inserted, on , by section 43 of the Building (Building Products and Methods, Modular Components, and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021 (2021 No 21).