About the legislative changes that have been made through the Resource Management Amendment Act 2020. The provisions come into force at various times.
Link to the amendment Act
- Resource Management Amendment Act 2020 [New Zealand Legislation website]
Overview of the changes
The objectives of this amendment Act are to:
- reduce the complexity of the RMA
- increase certainty
- restore public participation opportunities
- improve Resource Management Act 1991 processes.
See Overview of changes introduced by the Resource Legislation Amendment Act 2020.
The amendment Act makes improvements to:
- resource consenting
- enforcement
- Environment Court provisions within the RMA.
Read the Factsheet on new compliance, monitoring and enforcement provisions.
The amendment Act also supports the need to improve freshwater management and outcomes, and respond to climate change in New Zealand.
It does this in the following ways.
- Through a new freshwater planning process. Read the factsheet to find out more.
- By enabling the Minister for the Environment to make regulations for freshwater farm plans, and regulations requiring fertiliser companies to report on the sales of nitrogenous fertiliser. See Regulations for freshwater farm plans and reporting on the sales of fertiliser containing nitrogen.
Find out more
Cabinet materials
- Cabinet paper 1 – Proposed Resource Management Amendment Bill: Stage 1 of a resource management system review
- Appendix to the Cabinet paper: Proposed bill to amend the RMA – further policy detail on proposals (on Cabinet paper web page)
- Cabinet paper 2: Proposed Resource Management Amendment Bill: A specialised planning process for freshwater, and other outstanding policy decisions
- Cabinet paper 3 - Resource Management Amendment Bill - Approval for introduction
Briefing notes
Regulatory impact analysis documents
- Impact Summary: Proposed bill to amend the Resource Management Act 1991 (version 1)
- Updated Impact Summary: Proposed bill to amend the Resource Management Act 1991 (version 2)
- Impact Statement: A new planning process for freshwater
- Impact Summary: Additional proposals for proposed bill to amend the Resource Management Act 1991
- Impact summary: Cabinet paper for policy decisions for Resource Management Amendment Bill Departmental Report and other minor and technical matters
- Impact Summary: Linking the Zero Carbon Act 2019 with the Resource Management Act 1991
- Impact Summary: Making permanent recent RMA changes to allow documents to be made accessible electronically, and hearings to use remote access facilities
Department disclosure statement
Departmental disclosure statement: Resource Management Amendment Bill [PDF, 178 KB]