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Biosecurity Act 1993

Enforcement, offences, and penalties - Offences

160: Who gets payments of fines, fees, and pecuniary penalties

You could also call this:

"Who gets the money when you pay a fine or fee for breaking biosecurity rules?"

When you break a rule under the Biosecurity Act 1993 and get fined, the court decides who gets the money. If the Ministry charged you, the court might order the fine to be paid to the Ministry's bank account. This happens if the court thinks your actions caused a problem that needed to be fixed.

If a management agency charged you, the fine goes to that agency. The court must say how much of the fine is for damage or loss. Some of the fine, 10%, goes to the Crown Bank Account if it is not for damage or loss.

You might get an infringement notice and have to pay a fee. If an inspector gave you the notice, the fee goes to the Crown Bank Account. If someone from a management agency or regional council gave you the notice, the fee goes to them.

If the court orders you to pay a pecuniary penalty, some of it might go to the Ministry. This happens if the court thinks your actions caused a problem that needed to be fixed. The Ministry must use this money to fix the problem.

The Ministry uses the money it gets to pay for fixing the problem. A response activity is when something is done to fix a problem, and this term is explained in section 100Y(3).

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM316733.

Topics:
Environment and resources > ConservationEnvironment and resources > Farming and fishingImmigration and citizenship > Border control
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"Faster punishment for breaking biosecurity rules at the border"

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Part 8Enforcement, offences, and penalties
Offences

160Who gets payments of fines, fees, and pecuniary penalties

  1. Subsection (2) applies when—

  2. a person is convicted of an offence under this Act; and
    1. the court imposes a fine; and
      1. the charging document for the offence was filed on behalf of the Ministry.

        1. If the court considers that the act or omission that constituted the offence was a material cause of a need to undertake a response activity, the court must order that all or part of the fine be paid to the departmental bank account of the Ministry.

        2. Subsections (4) and (5) apply when—

        3. a person is convicted of an offence under this Act; and
          1. the court imposes a fine; and
            1. the charging document for the offence was filed on behalf of a management agency.

              1. The court must—

              2. order that the fine be paid to the management agency; and
                1. state in the order the amount of the fine that is compensation for loss or damage, if any of it is.

                  1. The registrar receiving the fine must credit 10% of the part of it that is not compensation for loss or damage to the Crown Bank Account.

                  2. Infringement fees received under section 159 must be paid as follows:

                  3. if the infringement notice was issued by an inspector, to the Crown Bank Account:
                    1. if the infringement notice was issued by an authorised person on behalf of a management agency, to the management agency:
                      1. if the infringement notice was issued by an authorised person on behalf of a regional council, to the regional council.

                        1. Infringement fees received under section 159A must be paid into the Crown Bank Account.

                        2. Subsection (9) applies when the court makes a pecuniary penalty order.

                        3. If the court considers that the failure to comply for which the court imposed the order was a material cause of a need to undertake a response activity, the court must order that all or part of the pecuniary penalty be paid to the departmental bank account of the Ministry.

                        4. This section provides sufficient authority for a registrar receiving a fine, fee, or pecuniary penalty to which this section applies to deal with it in the manner required by this section.

                        5. The Ministry must use the amount paid to its bank account under subsection (2) or (9) in meeting the costs of undertaking the response activity.

                        6. In this section, response activity has the meaning given to it in section 100Y(3).

                        Notes
                        • Section 160: replaced, on , by section 71 of the Biosecurity Law Reform Act 2012 (2012 No 73).
                        • Section 160(1)(c): amended, on , by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).
                        • Section 160(3)(c): amended, on , by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).