New Zealand Legislation: Acts

In this Schedule,—

The publication in the Gazette of a notice of the appointment of the Licensing Authority shall be conclusive evidence that the appointment has been duly made.

The Minister may at any time remove the Licensing Authority from office for disability, neglect of duty, or misconduct.

The Licensing Authority may at any time resign the office by writing addressed to the Minister.

If the Licensing Authority dies, resigns, becomes disqualified, or is removed from office, the office shall become vacant, and shall be filled in the manner in which the appointment to the vacant office was originally made.

If the Minister is satisfied that the Licensing Authority is incapacitated by illness, absence, or other sufficient cause from performing the duties of the office, the Minister may appoint any qualified person to be a deputy to act during the incapacity; and any deputy so appointed shall, while acting as such, be deemed to be the Licensing Authority.

There shall be paid to the Licensing Authority remuneration by way of fees, salary, or allowances, and travelling allowances and expenses, in accordance with the Fees and Travelling Allowances Act 1951; and the provisions of that Act shall apply accordingly as if the Authority were a statutory Board within the meaning of that Act.

The Licensing Authority shall cause to be entered in a minute book a record of all decisions made by the Licensing Authority under this Act. Every such entry shall include a statement of the reasons for the decision to which it relates.

A copy of any entry in the minute book certified by the Licensing Authority to be correct shall, until the contrary is proved, be sufficient evidence in any proceedings of the decision to which it relates.

Any person may, on payment of such fee as may be prescribed, obtain a certified copy of any entry in the minute book.

For the purposes of exercising its functions and duties the Licensing Authority shall have the same powers as are conferred on Commissions of Inquiry by section 4 and sections 4B to 9 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1908.

Section 4 and sections 4B to 9 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1908 shall apply to all persons involved in any capacity in any hearing conducted by the Licensing Authority as if it were an inquiry conducted by a Commission under that Act.

The Licensing Authority shall have, in relation to any determination on the papers and any hearing, and any decision on any such matter, the same immunities and privileges as are possessed by a District Court Judge in the exercise of the Judge's civil jurisdiction.

The Licensing Authority may from time to time publish, in such manner as it thinks fit, such practice directions, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act and any regulations made under this Act, as it considers will assist in regulating the procedure and carrying out the functions of the Licensing Authority.

Subject to this Act, any regulations made under this Act, and any practice directions made under clause 14 of this Schedule, the Licensing Authority may regulate its own procedure.

Except as provided in clause 17 of this Schedule, the proceedings of the Licensing Authority on any hearing shall be conducted in public.

In determining any matter before it, the Licensing Authority may, if it considers, on stated grounds, that it is in the interests of the parties or of any of them and is not contrary to the interests of other parties concerned or the public interest, order that the hearing, or any part of it, shall be held in private, and may, where the parties so agree, determine any matter on the papers.

The Licensing Authority may make an order prohibiting the publication of any report or description of the proceedings or of any part of the proceedings in any hearing before it (whether heard in public or in private); but no such order shall prohibit the publication of—

• (a) The names and descriptions of the parties to the hearing; or

• (b) Any decision of the Licensing Authority.

Every application for a licence to carry on a scheduled service over a specified route or between or through specified localities shall be made to the Director and be accompanied by the prescribed fee (if any).

The Director shall transmit the application to the Licensing Authority, but may in any case before doing so require the applicant to furnish such further information or particulars as may, in the Director's opinion, be necessary to enable the Licensing Authority to come to a proper decision.

The Director may, within 14 days after the Director has transmitted the application to the Licensing Authority or such greater period as the Licensing Authority may allow at the request of the Director, supply the Licensing Authority with such relevant information as the Director possesses (whether obtained from the applicant or not), and with such submissions, as the Director considers will assist the Licensing Authority in considering and determining the application.

The Licensing Authority shall forward to the applicant a copy of all such information and of those submissions as soon as practicable after it has received them.

Within 7 days after receiving such information and submissions or within such longer period as the Licensing Authority may allow at the request of the applicant, the applicant may supply the Licensing Authority with such additional written information and submissions as the applicant thinks fit.

The Licensing Authority shall, as soon as practicable, having regard to the rights of the Director and the applicant under clauses 21 to 23 of this Schedule, give not less than 14 days' notice specifying—

• (a) The name of the applicant and the nature of the proposed service; and

• (b) The time and place at which the Licensing Authority proposes to hold a hearing to receive evidence and representations in favour of or against the granting of the application by persons who, in the opinion of the Licensing Authority, are directly interested in or affected by the application.

The notice required to be given under clause 24 of this Schedule shall be given—

• (a) In such newspapers as the Licensing Authority considers appropriate; and

• (b) To the applicant and the Director.

The applicant, the Director, and any person whom the Licensing Authority considers is directly interested in or affected by the application shall be entitled to be parties to any such hearing.

The Licensing Authority shall grant a licence to the applicant unless it is satisfied that—

• (a) Existing services on that route or between or through those localities are adequate to meet the reasonable public demand; and

• (b) The grant of the application would affect materially the economic stability of the holder of any passenger service licence authorised to carry on a service on that route or part of that route or between or through some or all of those localities, and who is carrying on a service in a manner that is at least as efficient as that proposed by the applicant.

Every decision of the Licensing Authority under this section shall be in writing and, if an application is not granted or is granted in terms not applied for by the applicant, the reasons for that decision shall be included in it.

In granting any licence to carry on a scheduled service over a specified route or between or through specified localities, the Licensing Authority shall include as conditions of the licence—

• (a) The route or routes or localities to be served; and

• (b) The timetables and frequency of service to be observed, either specifically or sufficiently to show the nature of the service authorised; and

• (c) Conditions as to the places at which passengers may be picked up or set down and the localities to which or from which passengers may be carried.

The conditions imposed under clause 29 of this Schedule shall be similar in effect to those specified in the application for the licence or as sought by the applicant at the hearing, unless the Licensing Authority considers, for reasons specified in its decision, that those conditions are not appropriate and that those it has included should be substituted.

The holder of a licence to carry on a scheduled service over a specified route or between or through specified localities may at any time apply to the Licensing Authority for a variation of the conditions of the licence. The provisions of this Schedule shall, with the necessary modifications, apply to any such application as if it were an application for a licence; except that, if the Licensing Authority is satisfied that the variation does not constitute a significant variation to the overall level of services, the Licensing Authority may determine to deal with the matter on the papers, in which case clauses 24 to 26 of this Schedule shall not apply.

All proceedings that are before the Licensing Authority at the close of the 30th day of June 1991 shall lapse.