Explanatory note
This Supplementary Order Paper amends the Forests (Legal Harvest Assurance) Amendment Bill. The Bill amends the Forests Act 1946 (the principal Act).
Summary of main changes
This Supplementary Order Paper proposes to amend the Bill by—
removing duplication in the provisions that protect assessors from personal liability:
including, in the definition of the harvest laws of a place or country, laws that set requirements, conditions, or restrictions relating to access to the land where the harvest occurs:
removing from the definition of when timber is legally harvested, the phrase indicating that the right to harvest timber includes a right to access the place of harvest:
relaxing the requirement that a defendant give 15 days’ notice of their intention to use a particular defence if the court gives them leave:
updating certain provisions in the principal Act relating to forestry advisers to make them consistent with similar provisions in the Bill that relate to legal harvest assurance and log traders.
This Supplementary Order Paper makes other changes (more fully discussed below) including correcting errors and cross-references, and clarifying that regulations made under certain provisions of the principal Act as amended by the Bill are secondary legislation.
Forestry adviser services
Clause 15AAA replaces section 63L of the principal Act to make more explicit that a person who provides a forestry adviser service for reward must be registered and have appropriate authorisation. Consequential changes are made to section 63ZZN of the principal Act.
Clause 16 replaces section 63N of the principal Act, which relates to registration criteria for forestry advisers. New section 63N mirrors the approach taken in new sections 85 and 176.
Clause 18 amends section 63Q of the principal Act to enable the Forestry Authority to request certain information from an applicant for registration as a forestry adviser. The Authority may decline the application if the applicant does not provide the requested information within 6 months of being asked for it. The amendments mirror new sections 91 and 181.
Clause 25 amends section 63X of the principal Act, which relates to suspension of a forestry adviser’s registration. The criteria for suspension of registration is expanded to include the following:
failure to meet obligations to pay fees, levies, or charges where the failure is more than minor or inconsequential; and
that the person is no longer providing a forestry adviser service.
Clause 26 replaces section 63Y of the principal Act, which relates to the revocation of a forestry adviser’s registration. New section 63Y enables the Forestry Authority to revoke registration if the person has failed within a reasonable time to take appropriate corrective action to remedy the deficiency or failure that caused the suspension and the person has not sought a review of the decision to suspend registration. A similar change is made to new section 97, which relates to registration for legal harvest.
Clause 30 replaces section 63ZK of the principal Act. New section 632K specifies offences relating to the provision of forestry adviser services only. It is a defence to a charge under that section if the offence is caused by another person, an accident, or something else outside the defendant’s control. The defence in current section 63ZK(2) is carried over. Either defence is available only if the defendant gives 15 days’ notice of their intention to rely on the defence or the court otherwise gives leave.
Clause 35 amends section 63ZR of the principal Act to extend the time by which a person must notify the Forestry Authority of changes to their personal information on the forestry register. The time is extended from 10 to 20 working days.
Legal harvest assurance
Clause 6 is amended to remove assessors from the list of persons protected from personal lability under section 13 of the principal Act. The immunity that new section 117 confers on assessors who are outside the public service is retained. That section is amended to clarify that the immunity applies only when they act as an assessor under new Part 5.
Two amendments are made to new section 77, which defines when timber is legally harvested. The first part of the definition requires the person who harvests the trees or woody plants from which the timber derives to have the right to harvest them (including a right to access the land where the harvest occurs). The bracketed words “including a right to access the land where the harvest occurs”
are removed.
The definition of the harvest laws of a place or country in new section 77(3) is amended to include requirements, conditions, or restrictions relating to access to the land where the harvest occurs.
New section 145(1)(b) provides that a person commits an offence if the person supplies false or misleading information for the purpose of any information required to be provided under new Part 5. New section 145 is amended to allow a person to rely on the defence in new section 145(2) if the court gives them leave. A similar amendment is made to new section 146 in relation to strict liability offences.
Log traders
New section 179 requires log traders to make declarations to the Secretary of their continuing compliance with their obligations under new section 178. New section 179(2A) is inserted to enable the Secretary to extend the date by which the declaration must be made.
New section 183 sets out the grounds on which the Secretary may suspend a log trader’s registration. Those grounds are amended to include any failure by the person to pay any required fees, charges, or levies if the failure is more than minor or inconsequential.
New section 192, which specifies offences relating to log traders, is amended to allow a person to rely on the defence in new section 192(1A) if the court gives them leave.
Departmental disclosure statement
The Ministry of Primary Industries is required to prepare a disclosure statement to assist with the scrutiny of this Supplementary Order Paper. It provides access to information about any material policy changes to the Bill and identifies any new significant or unusual legislative features of the Bill as amended.