Submissions are a way you can contribute towards the decision-making of specific applications, the development of codes of practices and group standards, or changes to our policies or regulations.
In a submission you can provide information, make comments or raise issues.
A submission can be:
Who can make a submission?
Any organisation or member of the public can make a submission. If you know others who feel the same way as you, you can make a joint submission (eg. by forming a community group and appointing a spokesperson). One joint submission has the same weight as if all the individuals made their own submissions. Make sure you clearly identify who the contact person is for the submission.
Are all applications open for submission?
You can only make a submission on an application that has been publicly notified. Some application types must be publicly notified (eg. a conditionalrelease application), and some cannot be publicly notified (eg. a low-risk import application). For others, it is up to the Chief Executive of our organisation to decide if it should be publicly notified or not (eg. an import into containment application). In this case, submissions are only invited for applications that are considered to be of significant public interest.
How do I know what is open for submission?
We will put a notice on our website that a document is open for submission. You can view what items are currently open for submission by following the link to the right. If relevant, we also send an email or letter to those people on our Interested Parties List. This is a list of the members of the public and local or central government organisations that have asked to be informed when certain types of applications are received by us (for example releases or field tests).
We also place alerts in the public notice section of the four major New Zealand newspapers (for applications).
How long do I have to make a submission?
You have 30 working days to lodge your submission with us after public notification. The closing date is included either in the newspaper advertisement, in our notification letter or on our website depending on the public notification process.
It's important to get your submission to us on time, as submissions are not accepted after the closing date.