Dear Members,
The new DOC concession has been finalized. It will replace the existing one from 1 April 2023 and will be reviewed after 5 years. A quick summary is shown below, with the full contract following soon:
What doesn’t change
All guides/Concessionaires are required to carry DOC Approved ID cards when guiding.
Plan ahead and order early. It can take a month for an order to be submitted to the supplier, returned and despatched by post.
ID cards will only be despatched when the Department’s copy of your signed contract has been received and all outstanding fees are settled in full. The ID cards are ordered at the end of each month and posted to the concessionaires as soon as received. As long as your concession contract is approved/signed, you are permitted to commence operating effective your term start date (before receiving your ID cards). However, you must be able to provide DOC staff with your DOC Approved permission number if asked at any time.
The concession is issued for ProGuides members exclusively, and cannot be transferred or sub licenced to a third party
All concessionaires must have a valid First Aid Certificate.
All concessionaires must also have Public Liability Insurance to the prescribed limits. This will be strictly enforced, no exception:
You need Public Liability Insurance for general indemnity for an amount no less than $1,000,000.00; and Third party vehicle liability for an amount no less than $500,000.00.
The cost of the concession remains at $50 +GST per annum (but the activity fees increase – see below)
You are required to submit activity returns at the end of the season. You will receive a reminder when these are due.
The Concessionaire must ensure that it adheres to the international “Leave No Trace” Principles at all times (leavenotrace.org.nz).
What is new:
The confirming tracks are a NEW LIST (141 locations, as requested by individual Members in the past few months) compared to the previous concession (170 locations). Many of the previous tracks are no longer included, in particular in the Central Plateau/ Northland/ Bay of Plenty where the Iwi are still discussing with DOC with regards to access to their ancestral land, but new, longer walks have been introduced in other parts of the country. The 1h maximum per day time limit no longer applies. See Schedule 3
VEHICLES are now included with the concession. This new agreement covers not only the guided walking but also rights of vehicular access over formed roads and use of formed car parks located on public conservation land and which service the Land.
The concession is issued to ProGuides as an entity. The Association is a party to this contract for the purpose of coordinating the agreement and for negotiating concession fee reviews. ProGuides will be responsible for applying for the DOC concession to its members, collecting fees and paying on behalf of the concessionaires, and submitting the activity return on behalf of all of its members in an annual period. We kindly ask that you assist us by sending all required information promptly when the time comes.
ID cards must be re-ordered through ProGuides NZ exclusively (no longer direct contact between the concessionaire and DOC)
Annual Activity Fee:
$10.00 plus GST per adult client guided per full day (defined as a period of more than 4 hours but no more than 24 hours);
$5.00 plus GST per adult client guided per half day (a half day being defined as more than 1 hour but no more than 4 hours);
$1.00 plus GST per adult client guided per hour or less.
For a ‘child’, the annual activity fee is to be half the adult client concession activity fee.
If the Concessionaire fails to make payment within 14 days of the Concession Fee Payment Date, then the Concessionaire is to pay interest on the unpaid Concession Fee as ordered by DOC
What next ?
In April, you will be receiving your annual membership fee invoice, as usual. Existing concessionaires will also be receiving a second invoice from ProGuides for the 23-24 DOC concession. Please let us know within 14 days of receipt if you wish to opt out of the concession.
Note that DOC will also invoice you directly for the 22-23 concession (in arrear) as well as for any activity fees that you will have submitted to them.
22-23 concession is between you and DOC, payable in arrear
23-24 *NEW* concession is through ProGuides, with the concession fee ($50 +GST) payable in advance, and the activity fees (per person, as per above) to be paid in arrear at the end of the season
We ask that every concessionaire send us:
The 1st Aid Certificate, if not already done
A copy of your Personal liability to the limits shown above
Your application will only be sent for processing after we received the 2 documents above. If you don’t have an insurance, our contact at BWRS (previously Lowe, Schollum & Jones) is tracey.liddington@bwrs.co.nz.
Since ProGuides is now responsible and liable under the contract with DOC for any breach of the terms of the Concession by its members, we must ensure that the members understand and abide by these terms. We can’t allow any individual breach of the conditions to jeopardize the concession for the whole membership.
A key requirement for the concession is that we undertake an audit on behalf of all ProGuides members, which will include a Health and Safety plan. A copy will be sent to all concessionaires, to be signed and returned to us.
Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
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