Forms & fees | Environment Court of New Zealand

On this page:

The Environment Court charges a filing fee for lodging an appeal. The filing fee for each appeal/application type is listed with the appropriate section/form on this page.

Environment Court prescribed forms & filing fees

The court's forms are set out in the Resource Management (Forms, Fees, and Procedure) Regulations 2003.

Resource Management (Forms, Fees, and Procedure) Regulations 2003(external link)

If you're unable to access the RTF documents below, refer to the Regulations.

If you have any questions, please contact your local Environment Court registry.

The filing fee for each appeal or application type is listed with the appropriate section or form below. All fees include GST.

Clause 14(1) of First Schedule, Resource Management Act 1991 (also clauses 29(6) and (7), of First Schedule, Resource Management Act 1991)	Notice of appeal against decision on proposed policy statement or plan Form 7 [DOCX, 15 KB] Filing fee $600 (New fee from 1 July 2024: $660) Scheduling fee $350 (New fee from 1 July 2024: $385) Hearing fee per half day $350 following the first half day (New fee from 1 July 2024: $385)
Clause 14(3) of First Schedule, Resource Management Act 1991	Notice of appeal against decision of requiring authority or heritage protection authority on proposed plan Form 8 [DOCX, 24 KB] Filing fee $660 Scheduling fee $385 Hearing fee per half day $385 following the first half day
Clauses 27 of First Schedule, Resource Management Act 1991	Notice of appeal against decision of territorial authority on whether to accept or reject plan change request Form 34 [DOCX, 14 KB] Filing fee $660 Scheduling fee $385 Hearing fee per half day $385 following the first half day
Section 116 Application for consent to commence	Notice of Motion (General)Form 36 [DOCX, 23 KB] [DOCX, 25 KB] Filing fee $220 No scheduling fee Hearing fee per half day $385 following the second day
Sections 120, 121, 127(3), 132(2), 136(4)(b), 137(5), 139(12) and 139A(9), Resource Management Act 1991	Notice of appeal on decision on application concerning resource consent, transfer of water permit or discharge permit, or certificate of compliance Form 16 [DOCX, 42 KB] Filing fee $660 Scheduling fee $385 Hearing fee per half day $385 following the first half day
Section 234(4), Resource Management Act 1991	Notice of appeal on decision concerning esplanade strip Form 16 [DOCX, 42 KB] Filing fee $275 Scheduling fee $385 Hearing fee per half day $385 following the first half day
Sections 174, 181(2), 192(c) and 195A Resource Management Act 1991	Notice of appeal against decision concerning requirement for designation or heritage order Form 22 [DOCX, 25 KB] Filing fee $660 Scheduling fee $385 Hearing fee per half day $385 following the first half day
Section 176A(5), Resource Management Act 1991	Appeal against requiring or heritage protection authority’s decision regarding Outline Plan Form 34 [DOCX, 14 KB] Filing fee $660 Scheduling fee $385 Hearing fee per half day $385 following the first half day
Sections 179 and 195, Resource Management Act 1991	Appeal against requiring or heritage protection authority’s decision on application to use land subject to a designation or heritage order Form 34 [DOCX, 14 KB] Filing fee $660 Scheduling fee $385 Hearing fee per half day $385 following the first half day
Sections 185 and 198, Resource Management Act 1991	Application for order obliging requiring authority or heritage protection authority to take land Form 24 [DOCX, 23 KB] Filing fee $275 Scheduling fee $385 Hearing fee per half day $385 following the first half day
Section 274, Resource Management Act 1991	Notice of person's wish to be party to proceedings Form 33 [DOCX, 23 KB] Filing fee $110 Exceptions: Joining a matter under 87G, 149T, 198E and 198K RMA
Section 278(3)(b) Application for production of documents	Notice of Motion (General)Form 36 [DOCX, 23 KB] [DOCX, 14 KB] Filing fee $220 No scheduling fee Hearing fee per half day $385 following the second day
Section 279(b) Application for a case to be struck out	Notice of Motion (General)Form 36 [DOCX, 23 KB] [DOCX, 14 KB] Filing fee $220 No scheduling fee Hearing fee per half day $385 following the second day
(General)	Notice of appeal to Environment Court Form 34 [DOCX, 14 KB] Refer to appropriate section for fee.
Section 358, Resource Management Act 1991	Appeal against a decision on an objection Form 34 [DOCX, 14 KB] Filing fee $660 Scheduling fee $385 Hearing fee per half day $385 following the first half day
Section 291, Resource Management Act 1991	Notice of Motion (General)Form 36 [DOCX, 23 KB]Refer to appropriate section for fee.
Section 291(4), Resource Management Act 1991	Notice of person's wish to be heard on notice of motion Form 37 [DOCX, 21 KB] No filing fee required.
Section 281, Resource Management Act 1991	Application for waiver or directions Form 38 [DOCX, 13 KB] No filing fee required.
Application for security for costs	Notice of Motion (General)Form 36 [DOCX, 23 KB] [DOCX, 15 KB] Filing fee $220 No scheduling fee Hearing fee per half day $385 following the second day
Section 278(1), Resource Management Act 1991	Witness summons to Environment Court hearing Form 40 [DOCX, 15 KB] Filing fee $220 No scheduling fee Hearing fee per half day $385 following the second day
Section 311, Resource Management Act 1991	Application for declaration Form 41 [DOCX, 13 KB] Filing fee $275 Scheduling fee $385 Hearing fee per half day $385 following the first half day
Sections 316 and 320, Resource Management Act 1991	Application for enforcement order or interim enforcement order Form 43 [DOCX, 14 KB] Filing fee $275 Scheduling fee $385 Hearing fee per half day $385 following the first half day
Sections 320(5) and 321, Resource Management Act 1991	Application to change or cancel enforcement order or interim enforcement order Form 46 [DOCX, 14 KB] Filing fee $275 Scheduling fee $385 Hearing fee per half day $385 following the first half day
Section 325(2), Resource Management Act 1991	Notice of appeal against abatement notice Form 49 [DOCX, 14 KB] Filing fee $275 Scheduling fee $385 Hearing fee per half day $385 following the first half day
Section 325(3B), Resource Management Act 1991	Application for stay of abatement notice Form 50 [DOCX, 13 KB] Filing fee $220 No scheduling fee Hearing fee per half day $385 following the second day

Paying court filing fees electronically

You can pay the filing fee:

Online

You can pay the filing fee online using File and Pay.

You must include a copy of the File and Pay online receipt as proof of payment if not filing documents through File and Pay.

Access File and Pay(external link)

Internet banking (direct credit)

To make your payment by direct credit, please use the bank account information and payment reference provided below.

pay the money into Westpac bank account 03-0049-0001063-00
tell the appropriate Environment Court registry that you have made a payment
include adequate identifying information (reference) with your payment.

As long as the information included with the payment is the same information supplied to staff at the appropriate court, there should be no difficulty in verifying the receipt of fees.

Identifying information for payment:

When internet banking, use either the Environment Court file number or the appropriate court location or both of these as a reference. The Environment Court location identifiers are set out below:

Environment Court Auckland - ‘EnvcrtAK’

Environment Court Wellington - ‘EnvcrtWN’

Environment Court Christchurch - ‘EnvcrtCH’

Internet banking – identifying information

When internet banking use either the Environment Court file number or the appropriate court location or both of these as a reference. The Environment Court location identifiers are set out below:

Environment Court Auckland

‘EnvcrtAK’

Environment Court Wellington

’EnvcrtWN’

Environment Court Christchurch

‘EnvcrtCH’

Apply for help to pay the Environment Court fees

You may not have to pay some of the court fees for your environment court case if you can’t afford them.

You will need to ask the court to waive (cancel) the fee. This means you won’t have to pay.

The Registrar (and Deputy Registrars) have the power to waive, reduce and/or postpone some Environment Court fees, on application, in limited circumstances. The fees that might be waived, refunded or postponed are prescribed in section 281A of the Resource Management Act 1991.

These fees can only be waived, refunded or postponed if:

you are unable to pay the fee or
the proceedings concern a matter of public interest and are unlikely to proceed if the fee was required.

Forms to get a waiver

Fill in 1 of these forms:

Apply for a waiver (or refund) of fees if you’re an individual [PDF, 194 KB]

Apply for a waiver (or refund) of fees if you’re an individual and you’ve already had a waiver for this case [PDF, 174 KB]

Apply for a waiver (or refund) of fees if you’re an organisation [PDF, 192 KB]

Apply for a waiver (or refund) of fees if you’re an organisation and you’ve already had a waiver for this case [PDF, 175 KB]

Apply for a review of the decision to not waiver the fee [PDF, 27 KB]

If you don’t want the case to be held up while you’re waiting for the court’s decision, fill in the part of the form called ‘Ask for processes to continue while this form is being processed’.

You can use the same form to apply for a refund. Do this if you have already paid the fee but now want to get a waiver and have the court pay back the money.

What happens after you file your application

A Registrar or Deputy Registrar will look at your application and we will let you know their decision.

It may take several weeks for your application to be processed.

Review of decision not to waive a fee

The first decision about a fee waiver will be made by a Registrar or Deputy Registrar at the court.

If you’re unhappy with their decision, you can ask to have it reviewed by a judge. You will need to fill in a separate form – see above ‘Apply for a review of the decision to not waiver the fee’.

You need to do this within 10 working days after being told the first decision.

Direct Referral cost recovery information

With the agreement of the local authority or by the Minister for the Environment), where a matter is referred directly to the Court, the majority of costs incurred by the Court are likely to be sought for recovery from the applicants. The Ministry of Justice policy and approach to cost recovery can be found here [PDF, 194 KB]. For detail of the current rates of cost recovery, please contact the Registrar.

This page was last updated: 02nd August 2024