Responding to environmental incidents
If an incident or consent non-compliance involves a potentially serious environmental incident or offence, a Resource Management Officer will make a site visit. Our first priority, is the safety of our officers, followed by minimising any adverse effect, and then investigating the incident.
The Resource Management Act's (RMA) monitoring and compliance section can call upon expertise from our technical staff (scientists, engineers), city and district council staff, and external consultants as the situation demands.
Breaching RMA requirements
Breaching the requirements of the RMA can amount to serious criminal offending, and matters are heard in the District Court.
RMA penalties for individuals and companies
Following amendments to the RMA, a conviction can now result in penalties for:
- Individuals: Up to 18 months’ imprisonment and fines of up to $1 million
- Companies: Fines of up to $10 million
Monitoring and compliance practices
In keeping with the seriousness of the penalties, the RMA's monitoring and compliance section has adopted appropriate investigative practices carried out to police standards, such as:
- scene examination
- evidence gathering
- record keeping
- file management
- chain of custody for samples and evidence
- cautioning subjects before interviews.
Internal and legal review process
Before a final decision on formal enforcement action is made, any recommendation is reviewed for consistency, reasonableness and fairness by an internal enforcement decision panel.
Our lawyer will then review the available evidence and advise whether there is a prima facie case.
Prosecution cases are reviewed by Crown lawyers.
All activities are undertaken in accordance with our Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement Guidelines (PDF File, 814.42KB), and decision making is carried out in accordance with our Enforcement Policy (PDF File, 283.89KB).
What happens if I breach a condition?
If you have breached the conditions of your consent, you may receive one of the following (definitions follow):
- Notice of non-compliance
- Letter of formal warning
- Cost recovery
- Requesting an application for a retrospective resource consent
- Abatement notice
- Infringement notice
- An enforcement order from the Environment Court
- Alternative Environmental Justice (AEJ)
- Prosecution
Formal enforcement decisions are made after assessing the facts of each case under four criteria:
- Culpability of the alleged offender
- Degree of the adverse effect on the environment
- Significance of the incident to the community (public interest)
- Previous history of non-compliance or offending
Types of enforcement
Find out more about the different types of enforcement we apply to environmental incidents.
- Formal warning: Written warnings, instructions in compliance monitoring reports, notices of non-compliance and retrospective consents are useful when an offence is minor and the individual or company is a first-time offender. These inform the offender of the consequences of breaching the RMA and often is enough to deter any repeat offending, eliminating the need for more formal enforcement action. Most incidents and non-compliance can be resolved using these enforcement tools.
- Abatement notice: An abatement notice is a formal written notice that the RMA specifies can be issued only by a warranted enforcement officer. It requires certain actions to be taken or to cease within a specified time where that enforcement officer believes on reasonable grounds (on the balance of probabilities) that there is or is likely to be a contravention of the RMA and/or an adverse effect on the environment.
- Infringement notice: An infringement notice is a written notice of an alleged infringement offence under the RMA, which is issued in accordance with the Summary Proceedings Act. It requires the payment of a fee of an amount fixed by regulations. Payment of the fine does not lead to the recording of a criminal conviction. Infringement notices are suitable for responding quickly to relatively moderate offences that do not warrant prosecution.
- Enforcement order: An enforcement order is an order made by the Environment Court that may require, in the opinion of the Court, certain actions to be taken or ceased, or money to be paid, within a specified time. An application can be made by any person to the Environment Court to issue an enforcement order and it is that Court which identifies the matters of which must be satisfied before issuing the notice. Breaching an enforcement order issued by the Court is in itself an offence for which you may be prosecuted.
- Interim enforcement order: An interim enforcement order is like an enforcement order and is used in circumstances where the need for the order is urgent.
- Search warrants: Where we have knowledge of a serious offence against the Act and intends to gather evidence which could result in punitive action, the legislation requires that a search warrant must be obtained. We can apply to a registrar of the court when we believe, on reasonable grounds, that there is some item at a certain address or in a vehicle or any place, which:
- In respect of which an offence punishable by imprisonment has been or is suspected of having been committed; and/or
- Will be evidence of an offence punishable by imprisonment; and/or
- Is intended to be used for the purposes of committing an offence punishable by imprisonment.
- Prosecutions: We undertake prosecutions where there has been a significant contravention of the RMA. The fundamental objectives of a prosecution are to punish those involved; to act as a deterrent to other resource users; to protect the community and environment; and, to provide justice to the victims of the offending.There are four essential conditions to be met before starting a prosecution action:
- That there is enough evidence to establish a prima facie case
- That it is considered to be in the public interest
- That the environmental effect of the breach warrants court action
- The culpability of the offender.
We also takes into consideration the party’s previous environmental history of compliance.
- Alternative Environmental Justice: We have developed an Alternative Environmental Justice (AEJ) scheme which it applies to those incidents which are considered to be beyond the criteria of an infringement notice but fall short of the threshold for prosecution. The scheme criteria are considered by officers in relevant situations but can also be applied for by the party being investigated. In effect, the AEJ scheme aims to resolve environmental offending in an alternative forum that supplements the District Court, in a manner that allows the offender to put right the harm caused by their offending. All activities are undertaken in accordance with our Compliance and Enforcement Guidelines (PDF File, 814.42KB), and Guidelines for implementing Alternative Environmental Justice (PDF File, 283.89KB).
Penalties and infringement fees under the RMA
Penalties under the RMA
-
Individuals – imprisonment up to 18 months and fines up to $1,000,000
-
Companies – fines up to $10,000,000
Infringement notices and fees
Infringement notices are suitable for responding quickly to relatively minor offences that do not warrant prosecution.
When an alleged offence is determined as meeting the threshold for an infringement notice, it requires the payment of a fine but it is not sufficiently significant to warrant a prosecution case.
The infringement fees, which are set by Resource Management (Infringement Offences) Amendment Regulations 2025, range as follows:
- Individuals – from $600 to $2,000
- Companies – from $1,200 to $4,000
Fees effective from 4 September 2025 (Resource Management (Infringement Offences) Amendment Regulations 2025):
| Offence | Individual fee | Company fee |
|---|---|---|
| Section 9(1) and 9(2) – restrictions on use of land in a manner that contravenes a national environmental standard or regional rule | $1,500 | $3,000 |
| Section 9(3) and 9(4) – restrictions on use of land in a manner that contravenes a district rule, designation or heritage order | $600 | $1,200 |
| Section 12 – restrictions on use of coastal marine area | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Section 13 – restriction on certain uses of beds of lakes and rivers | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Section 14 – restrictions relating to water | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Section 15(1)(a) and (b) – discharge of contaminants or water into water or discharge of contaminants onto or into land where contaminant is likely to enter water | $1,500 | $3,000 |
| Section 15(1)(c) and (d) – discharge of contaminants into environment from industrial of trade premises | $2,000 | $4,000 |
| Section 15(2) [or (2A)] – discharge of contaminant into air or onto or into land | $600 | $1,200 |
| Abatement notice (other than a notice under section 322(1)(c) ) | $2,000 | $4,000 |
| Water shortage direction under section 329 | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Section 15A – dumping or incineration of waste or other matter in the coastal marine area | $1,500 | $3,000 |
| Section 15B(1) and (2) – discharge in the coastal marine area of harmful substances, contaminants, or water from a ship or offshore installation | $1,500 | $3,000 |
| Section 22 – failure to provide certain information to an enforcement officer | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Section 327 – excessive noise | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| section 322(1)(c) – abatement notice for unreasonable noise | $1,500 | $3,000 |
Abatement notices can be issued where in the opinion of an Enforcement Officer there are adverse effects or a contravention of the Act, or where a specific action should be taken to avoid, remedy or mitigate those effects.
Infringement notices and fines can be issued for failure to comply with an abatement notice. Failure to comply with the abatement notice may incur a $2,000 infringement fee for an individual and $4,000 for a company .