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Natural Environment Bill

Foundations - National instruments - National standards

83: Purpose of national standards

You could also call this:

"What national standards are for"

Illustration for Natural Environment Bill

The purpose of national standards is to do one or more of the following: implement national policy direction, provide procedural or administrative consistency, provide regulatory consistency, or provide specific direction on how a goal is to be achieved. You will see national standards used in different ways. Regulatory consistency means that the same rules apply to the same activity everywhere in New Zealand, no matter which district you are in.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1520910.

This page was last updated on 14 December 2025 — View changes

Topics:

Government and voting > Government departmentsEnvironment and resources > Town planning

82: National standards, or

"Rules to Protect the Environment"

84: What national standards can do, or

"National standards: rules to protect the environment"

Part 2Foundations
National instruments: National standards

83Purpose of national standards

The purpose of national standards is to do 1 or more of the following:
to implement national policy direction:
to provide procedural or administrative consistency:
to provide regulatory consistency:
to provide specific direction on how a goal is to be achieved in relation to a matter that is not covered by a national policy direction.

In this section, regulatory consistency means consistency in the regulation of the same activity across different districts.