Biosecurity Act 1993

Administrative provisions - Recovery of costs

135: Options for cost recovery

You could also call this:

"How the government gets back money it spends on keeping New Zealand safe from pests and diseases"

When the government administers the Biosecurity Act, they need to pay for it. You will help pay for some of these costs. The people in charge, called recovering authorities, must try to recover the costs in a fair and efficient way. They do this by working out how much it costs to do their job and making sure they get enough money to cover these costs. If they did not get enough money the year before, they will try to get the extra money they need.

The recovering authorities can use different methods to get the money they need. They can charge a fixed amount, or an amount based on how much time they spend on something. They can also ask for money before they do something and then give you a refund if you do not owe that much. Sometimes they might ask for a deposit before they do something for you.

There is one situation where this rule does not apply to you. This is when you are travelling and the government has to process you as a traveller, and the Airports (Cost Recovery for Processing of International Travellers) Act 2014 applies instead.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM316371.


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Part 6Administrative provisions
Recovery of costs

135Options for cost recovery

  1. The Director-General, every other chief executive, and every management agency, (hereafter in this section and in section 136 referred to as a recovering authority) shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that so much of the costs of administering this Act, including costs incurred as the management agency of a pest management plan or pathway management plan, as are not provided for by money appropriated by Parliament for the purpose are recovered in accordance with the principles of equity and efficiency in accordance with this section and the regulations.

  2. In determining appropriate mechanisms for the recovery of costs of a particular function or service, a recovering authority shall ensure that there is recovered any amount by which—

  3. the sum of—
    1. the costs of the function in the current year; and
      1. any shortfall in the recovery of the costs in the preceding year; exceeds
      2. any over-recovery of costs in respect of the preceding year.
        1. A recovering authority may recover costs of administering this Act and performing the functions, powers, and duties provided for in this Act by such methods as he or she or it believes on reasonable grounds to be the most suitable and equitable in the circumstances, including any 1 or more of the following methods:

        2. fixed charges:
          1. charges fixed on an hourly or other unit basis:
            1. estimated charges paid before the provision of the service or performance of the function followed by reconciliation and an appropriate payment or refund after provision of the service or performance of the function:
              1. actual and reasonable charges:
                1. refundable or non-refundable deposits paid before provision of the service or performance of the function:
                  1. charges imposed on users of services or third parties:
                    1. in the case only of the Director-General or some other chief executive, liens on property in the possession of the Crown.
                      1. This section does not apply to costs incurred by a recovering authority in processing travellers to which the Airports (Cost Recovery for Processing of International Travellers) Act 2014 applies.

                      Notes
                      • Section 135(1): amended, on , by section 56 of the Biosecurity Law Reform Act 2012 (2012 No 73).
                      • Section 135(4): inserted, on , by section 21(1) of the Airports (Cost Recovery for Processing of International Travellers) Act 2014 (2014 No 3).