Just got this via email from the Board - posting it here in case other members haven't seen it yet:

Dear Practitioner,

You may have heard that the Regulations Review Committee (RRC) has recommended to Parliament that the Board’s disciplinary levy be disallowed because it has not been set correctly, and  you may be wondering how that affects relicensing this year.

Our advice to you is to relicense as usual. It is not yet known if Parliament will agree to the RRC recommendation, or when it would take effect. In the meantime, you need to ensure that you have a current licence from 1 April if you intend to continue working in the plumbing, gasfitting or drainlaying trades.

 It is also worth noting that the RRC has not said that the Board has set fees that are too high in total but rather that part of the fee has been set under the wrong section of the Act. This will be corrected and is unlikely to result in lower total fees.

 Kind regards,

Max Pedersen
CEO/Registrar

Linkback: https://www.plumbers.nz/licensing-and-up-skilling/45/regulations-review-committe-notice-and-2011-annual-re-licensing/593/

hi guys, my opinion is that we should not pay the relicence fee untill we know the govt decision because if we pay then the rules are disalowed how do we get reinbursed,cheers

hi guys/Wal,yes it is simple,i will not be paying any(privilege to work fees)until i hear of the govt decision.  Since the introduction of the employment act of the 90s,we have gone from a union/employer award rate system to a system where all of us constructon workers have to buy a licence to work, i think that it is dissgracefull,cheers,

Hi Guys

Me thinks its time to organise a industry wide strike. World cup time would be best to cause maximum disruption and embarrass the (dis ) honorable politicians and still before the election so we have a chance of influencing the public into calling for some results.

So how about it???

The complaint to the RRC dealt specifically with the gazette notice which has the $266 disciplinary levy.  Once disallowed I believe that it rolls back to previous gazette notice which has the $50 disciplinary levy per trade.  However the interesting thing is that this probably wan't done right either.  However it will be interesting to see what happens in May - the PGDB are painting themselves in to a corner on this one. 

Hi TS don't hold your breath the idiots at the board will find some way around this just to make sure that they don't miss out on there gravy train 

I'm pretty sure that what will happen now is that a MP will move an amendment to the motion put before parliament to make the disallowance effective on 31 March 2012 and that the PGDB will put through a gazette notice for 1 April 2012.  The disciplinary levy will go down and the licence fee will go up so the nett affect will be the same i.e. the fees will be the same or perhaps even more.

I think we have had a pretty clear message from the PGDB to pay the fees this year or else you will be working without a licence.  Mind you if you've seen the newsletter from the Federation with a pic of the licence you'll see its actually called an authorisation card - is this legally a licence??  How will they work the supervision names on the back....  The questions keep on coming and the PGDB keep on making cock ups...

The levy will go down because the PGDB cannot charge (within the disciplinary levy) for prosecuting non-licensed tradespeople.  Those prosecuted through the district court (i.e. registered but unlicensed people, and members of the public doing their own plumbing, gasfitting or drainlaying) must be paid for separately - and not accounted for in the disciplinary levy.  This is how the Act reads.  It only allows the PGDB to recover costs related to actual disciplinary action against licensed persons.  So... up until now they have been using the Disciplinary Levy for all the costs associated with prosecutions (both practitioners and non practitioners).  The RRC have said they have mis used their powers and therefore cannot continue to do this.  The PGDB will therefore have to reflect the ACTUAL costs of disciplinary practitioners in the Disciplinary Levy so this will go down, but they still have to prosecute unlicensed people and therefore the only other place this can come from is the actual licence fee, or they impose another levy for prosecuting this group of people.  Either way mate we'll have to pay.
The answer to all of this is to get a slice of the Gas Levy paid by everyone in their energy account (at present the electrical levy on your power bill goes I think to the Electrical Workers Registration Board - and they use it to prosecute non licensed people who do electrical work) - well the gas levy goes to the commerce commission and they get to spend it. We need some of this to go to the PGDB to prosecute unlicensed people who do their own gasfitting (it couldn't legally be used to prosecute those who do plumbing or drainlaying). 
What everyone needs to do - PLEASE - is email Tim Macindoe MP who withdrew the notice of disallowance from Parliament so that the notice disallowing the disciplinary levy and slapping the PGDB for wrongdoing - and ask him why the hell he did that and did not let Parliament democratic process work?  He is the local MP for Hamilton West I think.  tim.macindoe@parliament.govt.nz   A pile of emails might make him rethink whether he has done the right thing.  That