Freedom Camping Woes Exposed

Freedom Camping Woes Exposed

Responsible Campers Association has this week exposed some disturbing aspects to our Freedom Camping Regulations.

It has been discovered that the Standard whereas Motor-homes and Caravans are certified” as being self contained is only a voluntary Standard, not mandatory.

In order to be mandatory a NZStandard must be citied in legislation and have a regulatory body over seeing it. The Self Containment Standard has neither.

What does this mean to Joe Public campers?

In essence due to the Standard not being citied and therefore voluntary campers cannot be forced to have “certified” self contained Motor-homes and Caravans, while some clubs may insist on such certification as part of their club rules, it can not be forced onto the general public.

It is yet to be seen if any Fines and/or infringement notices issued for breaches of the standard or for ‘non Certified' self contained campers staying in areas generally restricted to “certified” self contained campers are actually legal. Our belief is they are not.

This discovery was made while enquiring how a large national organisation that certifies campers under this NZStandard has been able to effectively ban their testing officers from certifying boom bucket type toilets, toilets that meet the requirements under this Standard.

Responsible Campers Association remains committed to a Responsible Campers Scheme that covers all freedom campers as defined by the Freedom Camping Act 2011, not just Motor-homers and Caravanner's. Such scheme not only would educate campers in responsible camping but also place the onus on the campers not their mode of camping.

We are not against self containment but believe certified self containment as under NZStandard 5465:2001 is impractical and achieves little that benefits freedom Campers or the public perception of Freedom Campers. Self Containment without the rules placed on it by the standard can be achieved in many different ways by all modes of campers.

ENDS

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