Land Transport Act 1998

Clean vehicle standard - Clean vehicle standard - Category 1 light vehicle importers: obligations and ways of complying with targets

177: Charges payable by category 1 light vehicle importer if carbon dioxide emissions targets exceeded

You could also call this:

"Paying charges for importing vehicles with high carbon emissions"

Illustration for Land Transport Act 1998

If you import category 1 light vehicles and your fleet's carbon dioxide emissions are too high, you may have to pay charges. You can avoid these charges if you have enough carbon dioxide credits in your account to offset the excess emissions, which can come from section 178 or section 180. You can also avoid charges if you can defer your obligation under section 179. The charges you pay depend on when you imported the vehicles and whether they are new or used. From 1 January 2023, you pay $22.50 per gram of excess carbon dioxide for used vehicles and $45.00 per gram for new vehicles. From 1 January 2025, you pay $33.75 per gram for used vehicles and $67.50 per gram for new vehicles. The charges you pay are considered land transport revenue under the Land Transport Management Act 2003.

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This page was last updated on 27 October 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS649424.

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176: Category 1 light vehicle importers: annual, fleet-based compliance regime applies, or

"Rules for bringing cars into New Zealand to help reduce pollution"

178: Category 1 light vehicle importer may bank overachievement of carbon dioxide emissions target, or

"Car importers can save extra carbon savings for future years"

Part 13Clean vehicle standard
Clean vehicle standard: Category 1 light vehicle importers: obligations and ways of complying with targets

177Charges payable by category 1 light vehicle importer if carbon dioxide emissions targets exceeded

If the actual average vehicle carbon dioxide emissions across the fleet of vehicles imported by a category 1 light vehicle importer in an obligation year exceed the category 1 light vehicle importer fleet target, the charges calculated in accordance with subsection (2) apply, unless—
there are sufficient carbon dioxide credits available in the importer’s carbon dioxide account to offset the excess emissions (whether such credits may have resulted from banking overachievement under section 178 or from 1 or more transfers of carbon dioxide credits into the importer’s carbon dioxide account under section 180); or
the importer can defer their obligation under section 179.

The charges are,—
from 1 January 2023,—
1. $22.50 per gram of carbon dioxide in excess multiplied by the number of used vehicles in the fleet; and
2. $45.00 per gram of carbon dioxide in excess multiplied by the number of new vehicles in the fleet; and
from 1 January 2025,—
1. $33.75 per gram of carbon dioxide in excess multiplied by the number of used vehicles in the fleet; and
2. $67.50 per gram of carbon dioxide in excess multiplied by the number of new vehicles in the fleet.

The charges payable under this section are land transport revenue for the purposes of the Land Transport Management Act 2003.

Notes

Section 177: inserted, on 23 February 2022, by section 10 of the Land Transport (Clean Vehicles) Amendment Act 2022 (2022 No 2).