Submission Form - Pre-1990 Forest Land Allocation Plan

Please complete this online form to comment on the Consultation Draft.

For background information refer to the MAF document New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme Pre-1990 Forest Land Allocation Plan (Consultation Draft) (October 2009). Further information can be found in MAF’s Guide to Forestry in the Emissions Trading Scheme and other information available on the MAF website www.maf.govt.nz/sustainable-forestry

Who are you?

Name:
Company/Organisation (if relevant):
Address:
Email:
Phone:

Please indicate your sector(s)/interest(s)/type(s) of organisation:

Agriculture – description/type:
Forestry – description/type:
Māori – description/type:
Local government – description/type:
Other – description/type:

Note, the following matters are fixed in the Act and therefore no comments are sought on them:
- aspects of the tests or thresholds that a person must meet to be eligible for an allocation of New Zealand units (ownership);
- the total number of New Zealand units that each person will be allocated (18 units, 39 units or 60 units per ha) and the cut-off change of ownership date;
- the number of units to be transferred during Commitment Period 1, (respectively) 7, 15 and 23 units per ha in that period, and after 31 December 2012.

The matters specified in the Consultation Draft of the Pre-1990 Forest Land Allocation Plan, which comments are sought on, are outlined below.

1. Which landowner should receive the allocation for forest land which changed hands since 1 January 2008?

We propose that the landowner eligible to receive the allocation is:
- where the land in question remains pre-1990 forest land on the date the Plan is issued, the landowner on that date can apply for an allocation of NZUs;
- where the land in question has been deforested at some point between 1 January 2008 and the date the Plan is issued, the landowner at the time that the deforestation occurred is responsible for submitting the allocation application and is entitled to receive any NZUs allocated.

Comments:

2. When does a shareholding change become an ownership change, and how to determine when ownership was transferred?

The criteria to determine commonality of ownership to be entitled to be allocated 60 units per ha. We propose:
2.1 Eligibility to receive the higher rate of allocation of 60 units per hectare requiring the ownership interests in a body corporate having changed by 51% or less between the dates of 1 November 2002 and the date the finalised Pre-1990 Forest Land Allocation Plan is issued; and the way the proposed rule will impact on your body corporate (if applicable).

Comments:

2.2 The use of the “settlement date” as the date to determine when ownership was transferred for pre-1990 forest land and hence establishing the entitlement to 60 units to be allocated.

Comments:

2.3 That transfer of forest land generally only includes land that is or has been bought and sold (in other words, does not include land transferred via transmission (such as under a Will) other than by vesting under a statute in accordance with a Treaty of Waitangi settlement).

Comments:

3. What information should be provided with applications?

We propose the data and the information that an applicant must supply in order to receive an allocation of New Zealand units as outlined in the section called “What information should be provided with applications?” in the explanatory material accompanying the Consultation Draft.

Comments:

4. What records must be kept and for how long?

We propose that any person receiving an allocation of New Zealand units in relation to their eligible land must keep for 7 years, copies of all information provided to MAF and required to create the geospatial mapping information submitted with the application.

Comments:

5. Any other comments you would like to make on the Consultation Draft:

Please note: Officials will summarise feedback received on this matter. Your feedback will be subject to the Official Information Act 1982 and may need to be publicly released. If you object to the release of any material you have provided, please specify the material that you consider should be withheld, and the grounds for withholding. Please note that even if you do identify specific material you consider should be withheld, we cannot guarantee that we will withhold this material. All requests under the Official Information Act need to be assessed in terms of the Act and while we will take your views into account, we are not bound by them.