NZ Excerpt from Resource Management Amendment Bill 2009
“The measures proposed to improve the effectiveness of compliance mechanisms include:
- Raising the maximum fine for committing an offence under the RMA from $200,000 to $600,000 for corporate offenders and to $300,000 for private individuals”
Section 7 : Improving workability and compliance There is little incentive for offenders to comply with the RMA and council plans when the financial gains to be made from non-compliance are higher than the penalties imposed.
Maximum fines for prosecutions under the RMA were set at $200,000 in 1991 and have not been changed since the RMA came into force. If brought up to date in line with increases in the consumers’ price index (CPI) over the same period, the maximum fine for prosecution should be closer to $300,000.
The ability of enforcement officers and local authorities to carry out their duties in ensuring compliance is currently hampered by minor technical matters and an inability to recover a substantial proportion of their costs.
Other than fines or imprisonment, another means of providing a deterrent would be review of existing consents. However, no such explicit ability for the Court to impose such penalties is currently provided by the RMA.
The RMA is an Act that binds the Crown, but Crown organisations are immune from enforcement action taken under it. This means the Crown is treated differently from companies or private individuals, and there is no deterrence (other than bad publicity) for non-compliance.
As of 2002 Crown organisations were able to be prosecuted for a limited range of offences under the Crown Organisations (Criminal Liability) Act 2002. However, the application of this Act is currently limited only to offences under the Building Act 2004 and the Health and Safety and Employment Act 1992. Offences under the RMA are currently not included.
The measures proposed to improve the effectiveness of compliance mechanisms include:
- Raising the maximum fine for committing an offence under the RMA from $200,000 to $600,000 for corporate offenders and to $300,000 for private individuals
- Providing the Court with the power to require a review of a resource consent held by an offender.
- Amend the RMA to enable enforcement action (enforcement orders, abatement notices, excessive noise directions or prosecutions) to be taken against the Crown by local authorities similar to the Crown liability under section 6 of the Building Act.
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