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Immigration Act 2009

Appeals, reviews, and other proceedings - General provisions relating to proceedings involving classified information

256: Court to approve summary of allegations

You could also call this:

“Court checks and approves a summary of claims against you in cases involving secret information”

When a court case involves secret information, you have the right to know what people are saying about you. The government must make a short summary of the claims against you without revealing any secrets. The court will check this summary and might change it. Then, they will give you the approved summary.

The court can only use the secret information if they can explain it without putting important interests at risk. When deciding how to change the summary, the court will listen to what the government agency thinks. They might also listen to the person who made the decision you’re challenging.

The summary doesn’t have to list or explain any secret documents. It also doesn’t need to say where the secret information came from.

If the government stops using some secret information or finds new secret information during the case, they must make a new summary for you. This new summary will be checked and given to you in the same way as the first one.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM1440990.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Courts and legal help
Rights and equality > Privacy
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255: Appeal period where decision involving classified information to be appealed to Court of Appeal or Supreme Court, or

“Time limit for appealing decisions with secret information to higher courts”

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257: Priority or urgency to be afforded to proceedings involving classified information, or

“Courts and Tribunal must prioritise cases with classified information”

Part 7 Appeals, reviews, and other proceedings
General provisions relating to proceedings involving classified information

256Court to approve summary of allegations

  1. The purpose of this section is to give an appellant, a respondent, or an affected person, as the case may be, an opportunity to comment on potentially prejudicial information in the course of proceedings involving classified information in a court.

  2. If proceedings before a court involve classified information,—

  3. the chief executive of the relevant agency must develop, and provide to the court for approval, a summary of the allegations arising from the classified information; and
    1. the court must—
      1. approve the summary developed under paragraph (a); or
        1. modify the summary and then approve it; and
        2. following approval (with or without modification) of the summary, the court must provide the summary to the appellant, respondent, or affected person, the special advocate, and counsel assisting the court and the special adviser (if any and if relevant).

          1. For the purposes of making its decision, the court may rely on the classified information only to the extent that the allegations arising from the information can be summarised without disclosing classified information that would be likely to prejudice the interests described in section 7(3).

          2. In determining whether, or how, to modify the summary, the court—

          3. must have regard to the views of the relevant agency; and
            1. may have regard to the views of the person who made the decision to which the proceedings apply or who made the application to which the proceedings apply.

              1. Nothing in this section requires the summary to—

              2. list any documents or other source material containing classified information; or
                1. detail the contents of any documents or other source material containing classified information; or
                  1. specify the source of any documents or other source material containing classified information.

                    1. An updated summary must be prepared and provided in the same way as if it were a summary prepared under subsection (2), if—

                    2. any classified information that was proposed to be relied on in the course of the proceedings is withdrawn (unless all the information is withdrawn); or
                      1. further relevant classified information becomes available that will be relied on in the course of the proceedings.