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Telecommunications Act 2001

Networks - Network operators and networks generally - Evidence

116: Computer records

You could also call this:

"Documents from computers can be used as evidence in court to prove phone calls happened"

Illustration for Telecommunications Act 2001

If you get a document from a network operator, it can be used as evidence in court. This document must be certified by an employee of the network operator, and it must show that it is a computer record of a telecommunication. The document is evidence that the telecommunication happened, and it can also show details like the phone numbers involved, the date and time, and how long the telecommunication lasted.

When you hear the term computer record, it means a document that was produced by a computer or a device that stores information. This can include a printout from a computer, or any other type of document that was made using a device that records or stores information. You can think of it like a receipt from a shop, but instead of showing what you bought, it shows details of a telecommunication.

You can find more information about this by looking at the Telecommunications Act 2001 and similar laws, such as the one from 1987 No 116.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM127415.

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Part 4Networks
Network operators and networks generally: Evidence

116Computer records

  1. A document certified by an employee of a network operator to be a computer record of a telecommunication and to have been produced in the ordinary course of producing those computer records is prima facie evidence—

  2. that the telecommunication was made; and
    1. of the originating number, the number called, the date and time of the telecommunication, and the duration and cost of the telecommunication, to the extent that those items are contained in the computer record.

      1. For the purposes of this section, computer record includes a computer printout or any other document produced by a device by means of which information is recorded or stored.

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