Water Act 2000

This section applies if the chief executive refuses to approve all or part of the operations manual for a resource operations licence or distribution operations licence.

The chief executive must advise the holder of the licence of the matters that have not been approved.

The holder of the licence may apply in writing to the chief executive to have those matters referred to a referral panel.

If an application is made under subsection (3), the chief executive must refer the matters to a referral panel together with the information provided to the chief executive under section 197(2)(b).

The panel must review the matters and make recommendations to the chief executive within 30 business days after receiving the collated information.

In deciding whether to approve the operations manual the chief executive must consider the referral panel’s recommendations.

The chief executive may—

approve the operations manual; or

approve the manual with the amendments the chief executive considers appropriate.

The chief executive must give the holder of the licence notice of the approval, including the date the approval takes effect.