Land Transport Act 1998

Clean vehicle standard - Clean vehicle standard - Category 2 light vehicle importers: obligations and ways of complying with targets

182: Charges payable by category 2 light vehicle importer if 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 vehicles and their carbon dioxide emissions are too high, you may have to pay charges. You can avoid these charges if you have enough credits in your account to offset the excess emissions, which you can get from section 183 or section 184. The amount you pay depends on the type of vehicle and when you imported it. You pay $27.00 per gram of excess emissions for used vehicles and $54.00 per gram for new vehicles from 1 January 2025. From 1 January 2026, you pay $6.00 per gram for used vehicles and $12.00 per gram for new vehicles. Then from 1 January 2028, you pay $27.00 per gram for used vehicles and $54.00 per gram for new vehicles again. The charges you pay go towards land transport revenue, as stated in the Land Transport Management Act 2003.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS649433.

This page was last updated on 29 January 2026 — View changes

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181: Category 2 light vehicle importers: vehicle-by-vehicle compliance regime applies, or

"Rules for importing vehicles: Check each one meets pollution targets"

183: Category 2 light vehicle importer may bank overachievement of carbon dioxide emissions, or

"Car importers can save extra credits for bringing in low-emission vehicles"

Part 13Clean vehicle standard
Clean vehicle standard: Category 2 light vehicle importers: obligations and ways of complying with targets

182Charges payable by category 2 light vehicle importer if emissions targets exceeded

If the carbon dioxide emissions of a vehicle imported by a category 2 light vehicle importer exceed the category 2 light vehicle importer target, the charges set out in subsection (2) apply unless there are sufficient credits available in the importer’s carbon dioxide account (whether such credits may have resulted from banking overachievement under section 183 or from 1 or more transfers into the importer’s account under section 184) to offset the excess emissions.
The charges are,—
from 1 January 2025,—
1. $27.00 per gram of carbon dioxide by which a used vehicle exceeds its target; and
2. $54.00 per gram of carbon dioxide by which a new vehicle exceeds its target; and
from 1 January 2026,—
1. $6.00 per gram of carbon dioxide by which a used vehicle exceeds its target; and
2. $12.00 per gram of carbon dioxide by which a new vehicle exceeds its target; and
from 1 January 2028,—
1. $27.00 per gram of carbon dioxide by which a used vehicle exceeds its target; and
2. $54.00 per gram of carbon dioxide by which a new vehicle exceeds its target.

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

Notes

Section 182: inserted, on 23 February 2022, by section 10 of the Land Transport (Clean Vehicles) Amendment Act 2022 (2022 No 2).
Section 182(2): replaced, on 1 January 2026, by section 10 of the Land Transport (Clean Vehicle Standard) Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 73).