Cross-boundary activities

The EEZ Act provides for a joint application process for cross-boundary activities which are managed under both the RMA and the EEZ Act.

A person who intends to undertake a cross-boundary activity may: ¹³⁰

• Prepare a joint consent application that complies with the requirements of the RMA and the EEZ; or
• Apply for a marine consent and a resource consent separately (either concurrently or at different times).

Where consents are applied for separately, the EPA may decide that the marine consent application ought to be processed and heard with an application for a resource consent. ¹³¹  The EPA can only make such a decision before or during the processing of an application for marine consent. It is not clear whether this allows such a decision to be made after a marine consent hearing has commenced.

The EPA also has the power to sever a joint application if the applications are sufficiently unrelated that a joint process is not necessary, the hearing processes are sufficiently different, or joint processing would not be administratively efficient. ¹³²

Any joint application process is to be administered by the EPA. ¹³³  However the EPA and the consent authority must make separate decisions based on the relevant criteria under the EEZ Act and RMA respectively. ¹³⁴

Last updated at 1:16PM on December 18, 2014