Search and Surveillance Act 2012

Enforcement officers' powers and orders - Surveillance device warrants and declaratory orders - Surveillance device warrants

46: Activities for which surveillance device warrant required

You could also call this:

"When police need a special permit to spy on people"

If you are an enforcement officer, you need to get a special warrant to do certain activities. You must get a warrant to use a device to listen to private conversations, or to track someone's movements using a device, except in certain situations. You also need a warrant to watch someone in their private home or yard using a camera, or to use a device that involves trespassing on someone's property.

You need a warrant to watch someone in their yard if you use a camera and you watch them for more than three hours in a day or eight hours in total. There are some exceptions to this rule, which are explained in sections 47 and 48. This rule is also affected by section 45.

If you want to do any of these activities, you must follow the rules and get a warrant first. You have to think about what you are doing and make sure you are allowed to do it. You must get a warrant to make sure you are not breaking the law.

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This page was last updated on 24 May 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM2136695.

Topics:

Crime and justice > Police and safetyRights and equality > Privacy

45: Restrictions on some trespass surveillance and use of interception device, or

"Rules for police when spying on people or using secret listening devices"

47: Some activities that do not require warrant under this subpart, or

"When enforcement officers don't need a special permit to do their job"

Part 3Enforcement officers' powers and orders
Surveillance device warrants and declaratory orders: Surveillance device warrants

46Activities for which surveillance device warrant required

Except as provided in sections 47 and 48, an enforcement officer who wishes to undertake any 1 or more of the following activities must obtain a surveillance device warrant:
use of an interception device to intercept a private communication:
use of a tracking device, except where a tracking device is installed solely for the purpose of ascertaining whether a thing has been opened, tampered with, or in some other way dealt with, and the installation of the device does not involve trespass to land or trespass to goods:
observation of private activity in private premises, and any recording of that observation, by means of a visual surveillance device:
use of a surveillance device that involves trespass to land or trespass to goods:
observation of private activity in the curtilage of private premises, and any recording of that observation, if any part of the observation or recording is by means of a visual surveillance device, and the duration of the observation, for the purposes of a single investigation, or a connected series of investigations, exceeds—
1. 3 hours in any 24-hour period; or
2. 8 hours in total.

This section is subject to section 45.