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 Green Star Technical Clarification Rulings

Technical Clarifications for Green Star represent our answers to Technical Questions submitted by projects, and provide further guidance and reference to others. The list is regularly updated.  

There are two types of Technical Clarifications listed in the table below:

General Clarifications

These are extensions to the guidance provided in the Submission Guidelines. They clarify and sometimes supersede the original Credit Criteria or 
Compliance Requirements. General Clarifications set precedent for future project teams to follow. Should a project team wish to apply a general clarification to its project, there is no requirement for further Technical Questions to be submitted. NZGBC Assessors will also use them as precedents to assess submissions.

Project Specific Clarifications

These are published as references for other projects but, unlike General Clarifications, they do not set precedent. They often relate to special 
situations where multiple prerequisites exist for a particular project and are less likely to reoccur to another project. Therefore, rulings set for Project Specific Clarifications are often conditional and will likely vary for other projects. Each project still needs to submit its own Technical Questions and provides evidence relating to its own building in order to have a similar ruling approved for that specific building. 

Should you wish to apply any Technical Clarification for legacy rating tools to your projects, please submit a Technical Question to the NZGBC to 
explain why and how it applies. You can access the online Technical Question form here

Technical Question Title Tool Version Date Released Credit Name Sub-credit Name TC Link
RPV framework adoption on Design & As-built rating tool DABv1.1 May 2026 21 - Sustainable Products
Approved Ruling:

For projects registered to Green Star Design and As Built v1.0 and v1.1, the Responsible Products Framework may be used in lieu of the NZGBC’s Framework for Product Certification Scheme found in credit 21 (Sustainable Products) in DAB and Interiors. Projects that do not target credit 20.2 FSC timber can include FSC timber in Credit 21. Both credits cannot be targeted for FSC at the same time as this would be double counting FSC. 
Any FSC product included in Credit 21 will still be subject to checks that the timber has a complete Chain of Custody (CoC).