Animal Products Act 1999

Cost recovery

113: Principles of cost recovery

You could also call this:

"How the government charges for services to do with animal products"

When the government administers the Animal Products Act, you pay some of the costs. The Minister and the Director-General try to recover these costs. They do this by charging fees or levies to people who use the services. The Minister and Director-General consider some important criteria when deciding how to recover costs, such as fairness and efficiency, as stated in section 114. They also think about whether the costs are reasonable and if people know what they are paying for.

You should be consulted before costs are recovered, and you should have enough time and information to give your thoughts, as outlined in section 163. However, this does not always mean you will be asked about specific fees or charges. The government does not have to divide the costs exactly based on who uses the services. They can set fees in different ways, such as by averaging costs or thinking about indirect costs, and also consider section 116 and section 163.

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This page was last updated on 5 June 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM35717.

112Z: Director-General must consider exemption, waiver, or refund of fees, or

"The boss must consider letting you off paying a fee or giving you a refund in some cases."

114: Methods of cost recovery, or

"How the government gets back the money it spends on animal product services"

Part 9Cost recovery

113Principles of cost recovery

The Minister and the Director-General are to take all reasonable steps to ensure that so many of the direct and indirect costs of administering this Act as are not provided for by money appropriated by Parliament for the purpose are recovered under this Part, whether by way of fees, levies, or otherwise.
In determining the most appropriate method of cost recovery under section 114, and its level, in any particular case or class of cases of animal material or product, animal product business, person, or other matter, the Minister and Director-General are to have regard, as far as is reasonably practicable, to the following criteria:
equity, in that funding for a particular function, power, or service, or a particular class of functions, powers, or services, should generally, and to the extent practicable, be sourced from the users or beneficiaries of the relevant function, power, or service at a level commensurate with their use or benefit from the function, power, or service:
efficiency, in that costs should generally be allocated and recovered in order to ensure that maximum benefits are delivered at minimum cost:
justifiability, in that costs should be collected only to meet the reasonable costs (including indirect costs) for the provision or exercise of the relevant function, power, or service:
transparency, in that costs should be identified and allocated as closely as practicable in relation to tangible service provision for the recovery period in which the service is provided.

Costs should not be recovered under this Part unless there has been consultation with affected parties in accordance with section 163, and the parties involved have been given sufficient time and information to make an informed contribution.
Nothing in subsection (3) or section 163 requires consultation in relation to specific fees or charges, or the specific levels of fees or charges, so long as the fees or charges set are reasonably within the purview of any general consultation or any consultation carried out for the purposes of section 116, and a failure to comply with subsection (3) does not affect the validity of any regulations made for the purposes of this Part.
Nothing in this section requires a strict apportionment of the costs to be recovered for a particular function or service based on usage, and, without limiting the way in which fees or charges may be set, a fee or charge may be set at a level or in a way that—
is determined by calculations that involve an averaging of costs or potential costs:
takes into account costs or potential costs of services that are not directly to be provided to the person who pays the fee or charge but which are an indirect or potential cost arising from the delivery of the service in question to a class of persons or all persons who use the service.

Notes

Section 113(3): amended, on 2 March 2018, by section 142 of the Food Safety Law Reform Act 2018 (2018 No 3).