National Environmental Standards

What are national environmental standards?

National Environmental Standards (often referred to as NESs) provide the opportunity for central government to promote the adoption of consistent standards at the regional and district levels.

National environmental standards are regulations which prescribe technical standards, methods or requirement for land use and subdivision, use of the coastal marine area and beds of lakes and rivers, water take and use, discharges, or noise. They can also prescribe technical standards, methods or requirements for monitoring. 614  

A national environmental standard may set a minimum standard, allowing councils to impose stricter standards in their own plans, it may set a 'starting point' standard, allowing councils to impose more lenient standards, or it may be absolute, so that local rules cannot be more lenient or stricter than the standard. 615

National environmental standards may contain qualitative or quantitative standards, discharge standards, methods for classifying a resource, methods, processes or technologies to implement standards, non-technical methods and standards and exemptions from standards. 616

A national environmental standard may: 617

  • Prohibit an activity
  • Require resource consent for an activity
  • State that a resource consent is not required for an activity
  • Allow a resource consent to be granted for an activity only if it complies with conditions specified in the standard and/or in the rules of a regional or district plan
  • Restrict the making of a rule or granting of a resource consent
  • Require a person to obtain a certificate from a specified person stating the activity complies with a specific term of condition in the national environmental standard
  • Specify the relationship between existing rules and the rules in the national environmental standard
  • Require the review of a water, coastal or discharge permit
  • Determine whether an activity is controlled, restricted discretionary, discretionary or non-complying
  • State the matters over which discretion is restricted or control is reserved
  • Specify that a resource consent application must be publicly notified or must not be publicly notified or notified on a limited basis.

Under section 43A(3) an NES cannot allow an activity with significant adverse effects unless it states that a resource consent is required for the activity, or state that the activity is a permitted activity.

National environmental standards may also incorporate by reference standards, requirements or recommended practices of international organisations and any other written material that deals with technical matters and is too large or impractical to include in the standard. 618

National environmental standards may also apply generally across New Zealand or apply only to a specific part of New Zealand, or a specific region or district. 5134

What is the effect of a national environmental standard?

A local authority must amend its plan if a rule duplicates or conflicts with a provision in a national environmental standard. Such a plan change will have immediate effect and will not undergo a public notification and hearing process and cannot be appealed. 619  A rule will conflict with a national environmental standard if it is more lenient or if it is more stringent and the standard does not expressly allow this. 620

Once a national environmental standard comes into force, anyone wanting to undertake an activity that is covered by the national environmental standard may need to apply for resource consent under the national environmental standard.  The application for resource consent is made to the regional council if the relevant rule in the national environmental standard relates to a regional function, and to a district council if it relates to a district function.

In addition to consent being required under a national environmental standard, a consent authority must have regard to any relevant national environmental standards when considering an application for a resource consent. 621  

A national environmental standard will not apply to a land use consent or a subdivision consent granted under district rules that existed prior to the standard coming into force.

A national environmental standard will apply to an existing coastal, water, or discharge permit, or a land use consent granted under a regional rule at the time a review of the permit’s conditions is undertaken 622  and existing designations will be subject to a standard when the designation lapses or is altered. 623

For any other resource consents the national environmental standard does not apply if the application giving rise to the consent was the subject of a decision on whether or not to notify the application before the national environmental standard came into force. The exception to this is if the national environmental standard says otherwise. 5135

What is the relationship of a national environmental standard with other documents?

Where a national environmental standard is inconsistent with a water conservation order the more stringent provisions in either document apply. 624

Bylaws prevail over a national environmental standard if they are more stringent. A bylaw may be  more lenient than the standard if the standard provides for the making of more stringent or lenient bylaws. 625

How are national environmental standards prepared?

A national environmental standard can be prepared independently, or with a national policy statement.

There are two options for how a national environmental standard is prepared:

  • The Minister for the Environment may appoint a board of inquiry to inquire into and report on the proposed national environmental standard. The board of inquiry must publicly notify the standard, receive and consider submissions on the standard, hold a hearing to consider submissions, and prepare a recommendation report to the Minister.  The Minister must then consider the board’s report, but is able to make any changes to the standard they think fit.  The Minister must also prepare a cost benefit report that meets the requirements of s 32 of the Resource Management Act and have particular regard to that report when making a decision on the standard; or
  • The Minister may establish and follow a process for preparing the national environmental standard that at least includes notification to the public and iwi authorities of the standard proposed and the reasons why, opportunity to make a submission on the standard, and preparation of a recommendation report to the Minister. Again the Minister must consider that report, but is able to make any changes to the standard they think fit.  The Minister must also prepare a cost benefit report that meets the requirements of s 32 of the Resource Management Act and have particular regard to that report when making a decision on the standard.

 These steps in section 46A do not need to be followed for amendments that have a no more than minor effect or amendments that are made to correct errors, or for similar technical purposes. 5137  

A national environmental standard is legally established when the Governor General, by Order in Council, adopts the regulations.

What national environmental standards are there?

The following national environmental standards are currently in force:

  1. Section 43(1) Resource Management Act 1991

  2. Section 43B Resource Management Act 1991

  3. Section 43A Resource Management Act 1991

  4. Section 43(2) Resource Management Act 1991

  5. Section 46B and Schedule 1AA Resource Management Act 1991

  6. Section 44A Resource Management Act 1991

  7. Section 44A Resource Management Act 1991

  8. Section 104(1)(b)(i) Resource Management Act 1991

  9. Section 43B Resource Management Act 1991

  10. Section 43D Resource Management Act 1991

  11. Section 43C Resource Management Act 1991

  12. Section 43E Resource Management Act 1991

  13. Section 43(4) RMA.

  14. Section 43B(7) Resource Management Act 1991

  15. Section 44 Resource Management Act 1991

Last updated at 9:56AM on May 30, 2024