65Actions taken under emergency powers may be exempted from requirements of Part 3 of Resource Management Act 1991

1. If any action under section 62 is an activity that breaches the provisions of Part 3 of the Resource Management Act 1991, the Water Services Authority may exempt the action taken from those provisions during the period specified under section 59(4)(d).

2. Before granting an exemption, the Water Services Authority—

3. must consult the relevant consent authority (to the extent that is practicable in the circumstances); and
4. may consult any other persons that the Water Services Authority considers appropriate.

5. A failure to comply with subsection (2) does not affect the validity of any exemption given under this section.

6. Despite subsection (1), if, during any period in which an exemption by the Water Services Authority is in force, a consent authority refuses to issue a resource consent in respect of the action which is the subject of the exemption, the exemption, if not expiring earlier, expires at the close of 5 working days after the date of the decision of the consent authority unless—

7. regulations extending the exemption are made under section 66; or
8. any appeal is lodged against the decision of the consent authority, in which case the exemption expires on the determination of the appeal or at the time specified by the court that determines the appeal.