52Criteria for decisions relating to environmental limits

1. This section applies to the Minister before deciding to—

2. set a human health limit:
3. select an attribute for a human health limit or an ecosystem health limit:
4. set a management unit for a domain or an attribute:
5. specify a methodology for setting a management unit:
6. specify a methodology for setting an ecosystem health limit:
7. specify a methodology for selecting an attribute of an ecosystem health limit.

8. This section applies to a regional council before deciding to—

9. set an ecosystem health limit:
10. select an attribute for an ecosystem health limit if that attribute is not already set in national standards:
11. set a management unit for a domain or attribute if that management unit is not already set in national standards.

12. A decision maker must prioritise the most urgent and important matters and, for that purpose, must—

13. consider—
    1. the extent, scale, and impacts of any environmental degradation; and
    2. the trend, direction, and pace of the degradation; and
    3. the difficulty in reversing the degradation if action is delayed; and
14. decide the most appropriate response in light of that consideration.

15. A decision maker must ensure that the notification draft and the final draft are based on the best obtainable information.

16. Despite subsection (4), a lack of full scientific certainty is no reason to delay making a decision needed to prevent significant or irreversible harm to the natural environment.

17. A decision maker must ensure that the information that informed the notification draft (including the evidence and methods used) is publicly available at the time of notification.

18. In this section, notification draft means a proposed national direction as notified under section 70 or a plan as notified under Schedule 3 of the Planning Act 2025.