As of today (1 June 2023), dealers and importers will need to pay charges with regard to how much CO2 a vehicle emits, as part of the Clean Car Standard (CCS).
Late last year, Transport Minister Michael Wood deferred the payment of said charges and receival of credits to today after the automotive industry called for a smoother transition to the new initiative.
The CCS scheme was introduced to encourage more dealers and importers to focus on vehicles that produce lower CO2 emissions like hybrids or electric vehicles. High emitting vehicles will incur a charge with the fee increasing the higher to CO2 rating of a vehicle, while low emitting vehicles will receive credits.
There are two types of payment schemes for CCS, one being Pay As You Go (PAYG) and the other being Fleet Average.
Those using PAYG now need to pay a one-off sum for any charges sustained between 1 January 2023 and 31 May 2023. PAYG users will also need to start paying charges as they accept vehicles.
Waka Kotahi states that if you choose not to, or don’t pay, you won’t be able to register a vehicle (for used vehicles) or get a Warrant of Fitness (for new vehicles).
Payment is conducted through a dealer or importer’s CO2 account in the CCS system which needed to be set up before 1 December 2022.
Credits are also able to offset charges if a user has them. Dealers and importers will be given the option to offset charges at the point of payment.
As of today, credits can be used for offsetting charges and transferring to other importers which can be done on the payment screen of the CCS CO2 account.
Credits can also be transferred between CO2 accounts within the CCS system too. However, they can only be transferred between accounts of the same type (new-to-new or used-to-used).
Dealers and importers will also need to meet Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements before they are able to transfer or receive credits.
More information regarding Clean Car Standard charges and credits can be found on Waka Kotahi’s website here.
Details regarding the Clean Car Standard regulations can be found here.
