Search and Surveillance Act 2012

Introduction

You could also call this:

"Updating Laws to Balance Rights and Crime Investigation"

Illustration for Search and Surveillance Act 2012

The purpose of this Act is to help monitor if people are following the law. It does this by updating the laws around searching and surveillance to include new technologies. You can find more information about your rights in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, the Privacy Act 2020, and the Evidence Act 2006. This Act aims to balance the need to enforce the law with the need to protect your rights. It wants to make sure the tools used to investigate crimes are effective. This is done in a way that is consistent with human rights values. The Act is trying to achieve this by providing rules that recognise the importance of your rights and entitlements. It is also trying to ensure that investigative tools are adequate for law enforcement needs. This will help keep you and your community safe. The laws around searching and surveillance are being updated to take into account new technologies. This will help make sure that these laws are fair and effective. You can learn more about how this works by reading the related laws.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM2136500.

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1: Title, or

"What the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 is about"

Search and Surveillance Act 2012

Reprint as at:
2025-11-28
Assent:
2012-04-05
Commencement:
see section 2

The Parliamentary Counsel Office has made editorial and format changes to this version using the powers under subpart 2 of Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019.

Note 4 at the end of this version provides a list of the amendments included in it.

This Act is administered by the Ministry of Justice.