Exemptions

What is an Exemption?

A petition for exemption is a request to the Director of Civil Aviation to provide relief from any specified requirement in a Civil Aviation Rule made by the Minister of Transport. Under section 37 of the Civil Aviation Act 1990, the Director may, if considered appropriate, grant an Exemption from a rule requirement, with appropriate conditions. Before granting an Exemption, the Director will consider whether an applicant’s proposal provides a level of safety, or risk control, equivalent to that required by the existing rule. Aviation is a dynamic environment and individual circumstances vary, therefore the granting of a similar Exemption in the past is not justification for the granting of another Exemption. Each Exemption will be assessed on its own merits, with reference to the most up to date information.

Applicant Responsibility

The onus is on the applicant to provide a risk and evidence based justification as to why the Director should grant an Exemption. This applies regardless of what Exemptions an applicant may have been granted in the past. To be able to successfully assess an application, the CAA requires the documentation and supporting evidence to clearly support the reasons for the Exemption request, including any proposed actions or conditions to maintain an appropriate level of safety. Petitions should be accompanied by safety and risk assessments. This will allow the Director to view proposals in context and should reduce CAA time spent analysing any associated risks. Failure to provide adequate information will result in a delay in the processing of the application while the CAA seeks the information necessary for it to consider the application.

Legal Criteria

In order to grant an Exemption the Director will need to be satisfied in all cases that the risk to safety will not be significantly increased by the granting of the exemption. If satisfied of this, the Director will then consider the grounds in section 37(2) of the Civil Aviation Act 1990. It is essential that appropriate evidence is provided to demonstrate that these grounds are met.

The grounds in section 37(2) are:

1. the requirement has been substantially complied with and that further compliance is unnecessary; or
2. the action taken or provision made in respect of the matter to which the requirement relates is as effective or more effective than actual compliance with the requirement; or
3. the prescribed requirements are clearly unreasonable or inappropriate in the particular case; or
4. events have occurred that make the prescribed requirements unnecessary or inappropriate in the particular case –

Applicants need to demonstrate that the risk to safety will not be significantly increased by the granting of the Exemption and identify which of the above grounds in section 37(2) they are proposing to rely on for an Exemption. This is to provide assurance that all risks have been identified and mitigations are in place to ensure that risk to safety is kept as low as reasonably practicable.

Exemption Specialist

The role of the CAA Exemptions Specialist is to assess the documentation and supporting evidence supplied, with input from subject matter experts, and provide an evidence based recommendation for the Director’s consideration. Therefore, the information and evidence supplied will directly affect the recommendation put forward to the Director. The Exemption process requires a CAA technical, policy and legal review before it is presented to the Director. Additionally, applications are prioritised alongside all other applications received. Therefore, applicants should allow adequate time for their application to be processed.

Charges

The charges associated with the processing of an Exemption request are promulgated in the Civil Aviation Charges Regulations (No2) 1991. Applicants will be invoiced at the CAA Standard Rate hourly charge. These charges apply whether or not the petition is granted. The CAA may send progressive invoices.

Processing Time

An Exemption goes through a robust and structured assessment by a number of CAA personnel before it is presented to the Director. This assessment process takes time and must be planned with consideration for other CAA work. Therefore an applicant should submit an Exemption petition at least 90 days in advance. This will ensure the Exemption decision is received before the date it is required, and provides adequate time for the applicant to implement a fallback strategy if the Exemption is declined. The CAA will consider an application inside this 90 day window, but there should be no expectation that a short-notice request will receive urgent or priority attention, particularly if the applicant has known about the situation for some time.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How do I apply for an Exemption?

Complete the form below, and email to exemptions@caa.govt.nz, or post to: Exemption Specialist, PO Box 3555, Wellington 6140.

• 24011/02 (31 KB PDF)
• 24011/02 (87 KB fillable Word)

Who may apply for an Exemption?

Anyone can apply for an Exemption. It is important to remember that the final decision lies with the Director of Civil Aviation. The Director may grant an Exemption with appropriate conditions, to any person, aircraft, aeronautical product, aerodrome, or aviation-related service from any specified requirement in any rule made under the Civil Aviation Act 1990, Section 28, 29A, 29B, or 30.

How will I be notified of the outcome of my application?

The CAA will notify the applicant in writing of its decision.

Are Exemptions transferable

No, an Exemption is not transferable. They are not property and cannot be handed from person to person. Exemptions are generally issued to individual persons or specific legal entities, should another entity wish to take advantage of an Exemption, it must apply for the same Exemption in its own right. Each application will be assessed on its own merits at the time of the application.

What happens if I don’t comply with the conditions of the Exemption?

If the CAA finds that you are not complying with the conditions of the Exemption, it will result in the exemption being revoked.

When will an Exemption be revoked?

The Director may revoke an Exemption on request of its holder. The Director may also revoke an Exemption at any time in the interest of safety. This could be due to the applicant not complying with the conditions of the Exemption, or special circumstances where the Director has become aware that the continuation of the Exemption may threaten aviation safety.

How will I know if an Exemption has been revoked?

Where the Director revokes an Exemption, it will do so in writing to the holder of the Exemption and will state the reasons for the revocation. In the situation of the revocation of a general Exemption, the revocation will be promulgated on the CAA web site.

Current Exemptions