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Immigration Act 2009

Compliance and information - Disclosure of information to or by other agencies, bodies, or persons

295: Information matching to locate person in serious default of payment of fine

You could also call this:

“Sharing information to find people who owe large fines”

This section is about sharing information to find people who haven’t paid big fines. The Department of Immigration and the department in charge of fines can work together to do this.

If you owe a lot of money in fines and haven’t paid, the fines department can ask Immigration for help to find you. They can share your name and other details to try to locate you.

Immigration can tell the fines department things like your name, birthday, gender, nationality, address, job, when your visa ends (if you have one), and when you might come back to New Zealand (if you’re away).

The two departments can decide how often they share information, what form it takes, and how they send it to each other.

From 1 December 2020, they need a special agreement to share this information. This agreement must follow privacy rules.

A “serious default” means you owe $1,000 or more in fines (or less if the government changes this amount), or you owe any amount of reparation (money to pay for harm you’ve caused). It also means there’s a warrant to arrest you for not paying, but you haven’t been arrested yet.

The government can change the $1,000 amount by making a new law.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM1441050.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Courts and legal help
Immigration and citizenship > Visas
Immigration and citizenship > Border control
Government and voting > Government departments
Rights and equality > Privacy
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294: Information matching to identify immigration status of person sentenced to imprisonment or community-based sentence, or

“Sharing information between immigration and prison departments about sentenced individuals' immigration status”

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296: No Crown liability to third parties for fines enforcement action, or

“Government not responsible for losses to others when collecting fines at the border”

Part 8 Compliance and information
Disclosure of information to or by other agencies, bodies, or persons

295Information matching to locate person in serious default of payment of fine

  1. The purpose of this section is to facilitate the exchange of information between the Department and the department of State for the time being responsible for the enforcement of fines (the responsible department) to enable—

  2. the responsible department to locate any person who is in serious default in the payment of any fine; and
    1. appropriate fines enforcement action to be taken against that person.

      1. For the purpose of this section, an authorised officer may supply to the chief executive of the Department any identifying information about a person who is in serious default in the payment of a fine, and the chief executive of the Department may compare that information with any information held by the Department that relates to the person and, if the Department has immigration information about the person, the chief executive of the Department may supply to an authorised officer 1 or more of the following:

      2. the person's full name:
        1. the person's date of birth:
          1. the person's gender:
            1. the person's nationality:
              1. the person's address:
                1. the person's occupation:
                  1. the expiry date of any visa granted to the person (if applicable):
                    1. the date that the person is expected to return to New Zealand (if applicable).

                      1. The chief executive of the Department and the chief executive of the responsible department may, for the purpose of this section, determine by agreement between them—

                      2. the frequency with which information may be supplied; and
                        1. the form in which information may be supplied; and
                          1. the method by which information may be supplied.

                            1. On or after 1 December 2020, no information may be exchanged under this section except under—

                            2. an information matching agreement entered into under Part 10 of the Privacy Act 1993 and continued by clause 11 of Schedule 1 of the Privacy Act 2020; or
                              1. an approved information sharing agreement entered into under subpart 1 of Part 7 of the Privacy Act 2020.

                                1. In this section and section 296, unless the context otherwise requires,—

                                  amount of reparation has the same meaning as in section 79 of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957

                                    authorised officer means an officer, employee, or agent of the responsible department who is authorised by the chief executive of that department to supply information to or receive information from the chief executive of the Department in accordance with this section

                                      fine means—

                                      1. a fine within the meaning of section 79 of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957:
                                        1. a fine to which section 19 of the Crimes Act 1961 applies:
                                          1. a fine to which section 43 or 45 of the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Act 1978 applies:
                                              1. any amount payable under section 138A(1) of the Sentencing Act 2002

                                                fines enforcement action includes the execution of a warrant to arrest a person in respect of the non-payment of the whole or any part of any fine

                                                  identifying information means personal information that identifies an individual, which may include the individual’s passport number

                                                    serious default, in relation to a person, means that—

                                                    1. the person owes—
                                                      1. an amount of $1,000 (or any other lesser amount that may be fixed by the Governor-General by Order in Council) or more in relation to 1 or more unpaid fines (other than an amount of reparation); or
                                                        1. any amount of reparation; and
                                                        2. a warrant to arrest the person has been issued in respect of the non-payment of the whole, or of any part, of any amount referred to in paragraph (a); and
                                                          1. the warrant has not been withdrawn or executed.

                                                          2. An order under paragraph (a)(i) of the definition of serious default in subsection (4) is secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

                                                          Compare
                                                          Notes
                                                          • Section 295(3A): inserted, on , by section 190 of the Privacy Act 2020 (2020 No 31).
                                                          • Section 295(4) amount of reparation: inserted, on , by section 4(3) of the Immigration Amendment Act 2011 (2011 No 39).
                                                          • Section 295(4) fine: replaced, on , by section 4(1) of the Immigration Amendment Act 2011 (2011 No 39).
                                                          • Section 295(4) fine paragraph (d): repealed, on , by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).
                                                          • Section 295(4) reparation: repealed, on , by section 4(2) of the Immigration Amendment Act 2011 (2011 No 39).
                                                          • Section 295(5): inserted, on , by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).