News
Registration of Forestry Advisers
Posted 08 03 2022
in News
Do you need to register?
The Ministry of Primary Industries is setting up the Registration of forestry professionals.
In August 2020, Parliament enacted the Forests (Log Traders and Forestry Advisers) Amendment Act. Under the Act, forestry advisers had one year to register to operate.
Te Uru Rākau – New Zealand Forest Service is developing a registration system which will start on 6 August 2022.
What is a forestry adviser?
Under the Act, a forestry adviser is someone who provides any of the following services to a client:
- Acting on behalf of another person in relation to their sale or purchase of timber or other forest produce,
- making inspections or preparing reports in connection with another forestry adviser service,
Providing advice relating to:
- establishment, management, or protection of a forest
- management or protection of forest land, including future forest land
- appraisal, harvesting, selling, or use of timber or other forest produce
- appraisal of a forest, forest land, or other forestry sector assets
- applying the emissions trading scheme (ETS) to forestry activities
- the beneficial effects of forests
A forestry adviser must register when they provide any of these services to a client.
A person will not need to register in the new system when forestry advice is incidental to and not the main part of their business. There are other situations when registration is not required.
Check here for the legislation definition of a forestry adviser.
Benefits of the registration system
- The registration system will include a public register for anyone to access.
- The system will assure anyone dealing with registered log traders and forest advisers that they meet the forestry practice standards, and they are receiving expert and impartial advice from forest advisers with the right knowledge and experience.
- Forestry advisers will need to meet a fit and proper person test to register and may have to provide evidence of their qualifications and experience in the forestry and wood processing sector.
- A new complaints process will be set up for dealing with complaints about registered log traders and forestry advisers.
Survey of forestry advisers
The Ministry of Primary Industries want to understand more about businesses that provide forestry advice who may need to register under the Forests (Log Traders and Forestry Advisers) Amendment Act.
Your responses to this survey will help The Ministry of Primary Industries design the online registration system and related services. They want to hear from you if you are: an individual that provides forestry advice to a client.
The 4-minute survey asks some basic facts about you and your business. You can also tell them if you would like to participate in a follow-up interview about the design of the registration system. The survey closes on 31 March 2022.
Find out more
Forests (Regulation of Log Traders and Forestry Advisers) Amendment Bill – NZ Parliament
Forests (Registration of Log Traders and Forest Advisers) Amendment Act 2020 – NZ Legislation