VanLife Beacon — aggregates each jurisdiction's rule and links straight to the official source — we explain, we don't replace.

✓ Sourced on record

Self-containment and sanitation rules, worldwide

Only one of these markets has a legally mandated self-containment certification: New Zealand's green warrant, which replaced the blue-warrant system on 7 June 2026. Everywhere else — the US, Canada, Australia and the 10 European markets this Beacon tracks — self-containment is either a voluntary club scheme or simply a practical condition of dispersed camping, not a certificate a ranger or council officer checks against a national register.

How this is compiled

Aggregate, never mirror, and no counterfeit precision: where no legal scheme exists, the row says so rather than inventing a capacity rule or a certifying body.

Official source per row'Not established' stated explicitly, never guessedChecked Jul 2026NZ 2026 rule change verified against the regulator

Country	Scheme	Toilet requirement	Capacity rule	Enforcement	Official source
NZ New Zealand	Mandatory green warrant under the Self-contained Motor Vehicles Legislation Act 2023. Blue warrants ceased to be valid on 7 June 2026	Toilet permanently fixed to and usable within the vehicle. Portable toilets no longer qualify	Performance-based, not prescriptive — the system must serve the certified number of occupants for at least 3 days. The regulator does NOT set tank sizes; the widely quoted 12 L per person is guidance, not law	PGDB national SCV register, checked on the spot. Certification valid up to 4 years; $120 incl. GST levy plus inspection fee; revocable	pgdb.co.nz ↗
AU Australia	No national standard. The CMCA 'Leave No Trace' scheme is voluntary and self-nominated	No legal requirement nationally; individual council sites may require an onboard toilet	No legal capacity rule. The operating principle is retain all waste onboard and leave no trace	Council-level, site by site. A CMCA sticker has no legal force comparable to a NZ green warrant	cmca.net.au ↗
US United States	None. No federal or state self-containment certification, sticker or register exists	No certification requirement. Federal dispersed-camping guidance requires you to be self-contained in practice — no water, toilets or bins are provided	None. Waste is managed through a dense commercial and public dump-station network	Land-manager conditions of use and pack-it-out rules, not certification. Grey/black water discharge is governed by state and local health codes — verify per state	fs.usda.gov ↗
CA Canada	None found — no federal or provincial self-containment certification scheme	No certification requirement	None. Dump-station based, as in the US	Provincial land-use policy conditions and municipal bylaws. Discharge rules are provincial — verify per province	gov.bc.ca ↗
European Union (10 markets tracked — no legal scheme found)	No EU-wide or per-country mandatory self-containment certification was found across the 10 European markets this Beacon tracks — there is no European counterpart to New Zealand's green warrant	Not legally mandated in the markets checked. Cassette toilets (Thetford, Dometic) are the de facto standard — an estimated 95% of EU motorhomes — per manufacturer reference, not a certification requirement	Not established — check official source	No certification register found; individual aire/campsite/Stellplatz operators may set their own house rules	thetford.eu ↗

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How this is compiled

Sources