Nutrient Trading Programme: Enforcement Issues

This report address a number of high-level issues concerning legal enforcement of a potential Nutrient Training Programme (NTS) for the Rotorua Lakes Catchment. It concludes that in its current form, the RMA provides the basic mechanisms for enforcing an NTS implemented under regional plan provisions.

However, because the relevant RMA mechanisms and provisions are necessarily generic, the need to establish the grounds for prosecutions, enforcement orders or other remedies on a case-by-case basis means that generally, enforcing compliance with an NTS will be potentially expensive, time-consuming and with a degree of uncertainty about outcomes.

It would be preferable to have in place a tailor-made statutory regime for compliance, such as that which exists for the New Zealand carbon Emissions Trading Scheme under the Climate Change Response Act 2002.

Citation

Rive, Vernon. 2012. "Nutrient Trading Programme: Enforcement Issues," Advice to Motu Research, Vernon Rive Environmental Law, Auckland.