(1)  In this Act –

approved form means a form approved by the Commissioner;

business day means a day that is not –

(a) a Saturday or Sunday; or

(b) a statutory holiday within the meaning of the Statutory Holidays Act 2000 ;

Commissioner means the Farm Debt Mediation Commissioner appointed under section 11(1) ;

cooling-off period , in relation to a draft mediation agreement or a mediation agreement, means the cooling-off period specified in section 36(2) ;

cooling-off period statement means a statement, in an approved form, specifying the cooling-off period;

Creditor means a person to whom a farm debt is, for the time being, owed by a farmer;

default , in relation to a farm mortgage, means failure to perform an obligation that, under the terms of the mortgage, is a ground for enforcement action;

draft mediation agreement means a draft mediation agreement prepared in accordance with section 34 ;

enforcement action , in relation to a farm mortgage, means taking possession of property under the mortgage or any other action to enforce the mortgage, including the giving of any statutory enforcement notice, or the continuation of any action to that end already commenced, but does not include –

(a) the completion of the sale of property held under the mortgage in respect of which contracts were exchanged before the commencement of Part 4 of this Act; or

(b) the enforcement of a judgment that was obtained before the commencement of Part 4 of this Act;

exemption certificate means a certificate that is issued and is in force in accordance with section 16 ;

farm means land on which a farmer engages in a farming operation;

farm debt means a debt incurred by a farmer for the purposes of the conduct of a farming operation that is secured wholly or partly by a farm mortgage;

farmer means a person (whether an individual person or a corporation) who is solely or principally engaged in a farming operation and includes –

(a) a person who owns land cultivated under a share-farming agreement; and

(b) the personal representatives of a deceased farmer;

farming operation  – see section 7 ;

farm machinery means any of the following things that are commonly used for the purposes of a farming operation:

(a) a vehicle, machine or other implement;

(b) any other thing of a prescribed class;

farm mortgage includes any interest in, or power over, any farm property securing obligations of the farmer, whether as a debtor or guarantor, including –

(a) any interest in, or power arising from, a hire purchase agreement relating to farm machinery; and

(b) any stock mortgage or any crop or wool lien; and

(c) the interest of the lessor of any farm machinery that is leased;

farm property means –

(a) a farm or part of a farm; or

(b) farm machinery used by a farmer in connection with a farming operation; or

(c) a licence, or a water allocation, within the meaning of the Water Management Act 1999 , that is held by a farmer in connection with a farming operation;

function includes a power, authority or duty;

hire purchase agreement means an agreement –

(a) for the letting of goods with an option to purchase the goods; or

(b) for the purchase of goods by instalments (whether the agreement describes the instalments as rent or hire or otherwise) –

but does not include any agreement by which the property in the goods comprised in the agreement passes at the time of the agreement or on or at any time before the delivery of the goods;

mediation  – see section 6 ;

mediation agreement means a mediation agreement in accordance with section 35 ;

mediation request means a request inviting a Creditor to participate in mediation that is given to the Creditor by a farmer in accordance with section 25(1) ;

mediator means a person accredited, or reaccredited, as a mediator in accordance with section 22 ;

notice inviting mediation means a notice inviting a farmer to participate in mediation that is given to the farmer by a Creditor in accordance with section 24(1) ;

parties , in relation to mediation, means any of the following persons who are participants in the mediation:

(a) a farmer;

(b) a Creditor;

(c) an agent approved to represent a farmer or Creditor in the mediation in accordance with section 32 ;

(d) an advisor who is present at the mediation in accordance with section 32(7) ;

prohibition certificate means a certificate that is issued and in force in accordance with section 19 ;

statutory enforcement notice means –

(a) a notice given, or left, in accordance with section 77(1) of the Land Titles Act 1980 ; or

(b) a notice served or published under section 22 of the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act 1884 ; or

(c) a notice, under any Act, that is prescribed for the purposes of this definition.

(2)  For the purposes of this Act, satisfactory mediation means a mediation that –

(a) has achieved a resolution of a matter involving a farm debt; or

(b) has proceeded as far as it reasonably can in attempting to achieve a resolution of a matter involving a farm debt but has nevertheless failed to resolve the matter; or

(c) is prescribed, or is within a class of mediations prescribed, for the purposes of this subsection to be a satisfactory mediation.