Fast-track Approvals Act 2024

The Fast-track Approvals Act 2024 is a principal Act. Its purpose is to facilitate the delivery of infrastructure and development projects with significant regional or national benefits.

For business owners, developers and project sponsors, the key point is that this is a separate statutory pathway. It has its own entry rules, referral process, pre-lodgement requirements, panel process, appeal settings, cost recovery rules and commencement provisions.

If approvals are sought through this Act, the process under this Act applies instead of the process under the specified Act for those approvals. That can be important where one project needs approvals across several legal regimes.

This Act is most relevant to larger projects where timing, coordination across agencies, or overlapping approvals are commercially significant. It is not a general shortcut for every development or consent process.

There are two main ways into the regime. A project may already be listed in Schedule 2. If it is not listed, the project sponsor may consider a referral application for an unlisted project.

The Act also interacts with issues such as ineligible activity, Treaty settlements, recognised customary rights, identified Māori land, conservation land, aquaculture, mining permits and Public Works Act land processes. Those issues can affect whether the pathway is available and how the application must be framed.

A project enters the fast-track regime either because it is listed in Schedule 2 or because the Minister accepts a referral application and refers the project.

For a referral application, the responsible agency first decides whether the application is complete and within scope. The Minister then decides whether to accept it under the Act's referral framework.

If the Minister accepts the referral application and refers the project, the Minister must specify the person or persons who lodged the referral application as the authorised person or persons who may lodge the substantive application.

The Minister may also specify restrictions on the project, information that must be submitted with the substantive application, whether there are competing applications, whether there are existing resource consents of the kind referred to in section 30, and extra persons or groups from whom the panel must invite comments.

The notice of the Minister's decision must specify the deadline for lodging the substantive application. If no deadline is set, the notice must specify a date that is 2 years after the notice is given to the applicant.

Before lodging a substantive application for a listed project, the authorised person must complete the pre-lodgement steps in section 29. That includes consulting the groups referred to in section 11(1)(a) and notifying in writing the persons and groups referred to in section 11(1)(b), giving them 20 working days to respond.

The authorised person must not lodge the substantive application until each 20 working day response period has expired. This is a hard process point and should be built into the project programme.

If the substantive application seeks an access arrangement approval, the authorised person must also comply with the applied Crown Minerals Act step in section 29(1)(b).

There are also preliminary steps for some resource consent applications. If the substantive application is to seek a resource consent and the authorised person does not hold an existing resource consent for the same activity using some or all of the same natural resource, the authorised person must notify each relevant regional council before lodging.

Each regional council must respond within 10 working days. If there is an existing resource consent of the relevant kind, the council must also notify that consent holder, and the authorised person may need to wait for later notices before lodging the substantive application.

The Act also contains separate preliminary pathways for aquaculture, land exchange and mining permit matters. Those should be checked early if they are part of the project.

The authorised person may lodge the substantive application for the approvals sought. The application must meet the Act's requirements, and the information must be specified in sufficient detail.

After lodgement, the EPA decides whether the substantive application is complete and within scope. The panel convener then sets up a panel, and the panel process begins.

At the substantive application stage, the panel invites comments on the application. The Act also contains general provisions about those invitations and allows a response to comments.

The panel may request further information or a report. It may also request or commission advice on a concession, land exchange or access arrangement. In some situations, processing can be suspended and later resumed.

A hearing is not required in every case. If a hearing is held, the Act sets out the procedure and allows remote access hearings.

The panel decides the approvals sought in the substantive application, subject to the Act and the relevant schedules. The exact decision framework can vary depending on which approvals are being sought.

Conditions imposed under the Act must be no more onerous than necessary. The Act also contains specific provisions dealing with Treaty settlements, recognised customary rights and infrastructure conditions.

The panel must or may decline approvals in some situations. Before declining an approval, the panel provides draft decisions to the applicant. Before granting approval, the panel seeks comment on draft conditions.

For some approval types, the Act modifies the usual legal framework through the schedules. That means businesses should not assume every approval type follows identical criteria or identical process steps.

Mining permit applications under this Act have a separate set of rules in Schedule 11. Those rules add extra information requirements, decision criteria, commencement rules and confidentiality protections.

When deciding whether to grant a mining permit, the panel must take into account the purpose of this Act and the purpose of the Crown Minerals Act 1991, giving the greatest weight to the purpose of this Act.

The panel must not grant a mining permit unless it is satisfied about matters including the deposit, the proposed work programme, technical capability, financial capability, relevant compliance history, and in some cases health and safety capability.

If a panel grants a mining permit, the Minister must do what is necessary to give effect to the panel's decision after 30 working days have expired after the decision document was issued. The permit commences only after that and in accordance with its terms.

Schedule 11 also limits disclosure of information relating to an application or proposed application for a mining permit unless an exception applies. It further requires withholding information where there would be good reason to withhold it under the Official Information Act 1982 if requested under that Act.

This regime is document-heavy. Businesses should expect to prepare a referral application or substantive application, project descriptions, approval mapping, consultation records, written notices and technical reports.

If a referral application is accepted, the Minister's notice should be treated as a working instruction sheet. It may set restrictions on the project, require particular information to be included later, and identify extra persons or groups from whom the panel must invite comments.

Good record-keeping matters. The Act uses formal notice steps, response periods and agency communications. If those are not tracked properly, filing dates and downstream approvals can be affected.

Where more than one authorised person is involved, businesses should also be clear about who is responsible for notices, signing, information responses, cost allocation and compliance with conditions.

Fast-track can change timing, but it does not remove process steps. Timing still depends on gateway decisions, completeness checks, consultation and notice periods, comment invitations, information requests, and any restrictions or deadlines set for the project.

The Act separately deals with the status of an approval when granted and when it commences. A granted approval is not always immediately exercisable.

Appeals are only on a question of law. Judicial review is also preserved. That means legal challenge risk still needs to be considered before major commitments are made.

For projects involving land acquisition under the Public Works Act 1981, Schedule 12 modifies part of the court process where the project is being dealt with using the fast-track approvals process, has been referred to a panel, and an objection to the taking of land has been made to the court.

For most businesses, the practical question is not simply whether fast-track exists. It is whether the project is eligible, whether the right approvals can be sought through this Act, and whether the business can meet the front-loaded process requirements.

A sensible first review is to test the project against the Act's gateway, land status, approval mix and timing rules. That should happen before major procurement, financing or land commitments are finalised.

Because the Act uses schedules to modify different approval regimes, businesses should check the current version and the project-specific settings before relying on any summary.