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Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1992

Requests to New Zealand - Assistance in obtaining evidence in New Zealand - Assistance in obtaining evidence in New Zealand

31: Assistance in obtaining evidence in New Zealand

You could also call this:

"Getting help to find evidence in New Zealand for a crime in another country"

Illustration for Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1992

You can ask the Attorney-General for help to get evidence in New Zealand. The Attorney-General can say yes to helping if they think it is for a criminal case in another country. They must also think that the evidence can be found in New Zealand. You can ask for help to take evidence, produce documents or articles, or do a forensic comparison under the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Act 1995. The Attorney-General can agree to help if they think it is for a criminal matter in another country and the crime is punishable by more than one year in prison. If the Attorney-General agrees to help, a Judge can take evidence from witnesses and write it down. The Judge must then send the written evidence to the Attorney-General. The Judge can also ask for documents or articles to be produced and sent to the Attorney-General.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM274415.

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Part 3Requests to New Zealand
Assistance in obtaining evidence in New Zealand: Assistance in obtaining evidence in New Zealand

31Assistance in obtaining evidence in New Zealand

  1. A foreign country may request the Attorney-General to assist in arranging—

  2. the taking of evidence in New Zealand; or
    1. the production of documents or other articles in New Zealand; or
      1. the undertaking of a forensic comparison under the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Act 1995 and the production of a document specifying the result of that comparison.

        1. The Attorney-General may, in writing, authorise the requested assistance if,—

        2. in the case of receipt of a request made under subsection (1)(a) or (b) by a foreign country, the Attorney-General is satisfied that—
          1. the request relates to criminal proceedings in the foreign country; and
            1. there are reasonable grounds for believing that the evidence can be taken or the documents or other articles can be produced in New Zealand:
            2. in the case of receipt of a request made under subsection (1)(c) by a foreign country, the Attorney-General is satisfied that—
              1. the request relates to a criminal matter in the foreign country; and
                1. the request is in respect of an offence that corresponds to an offence in New Zealand that is punishable by a term of imprisonment of more than 1 year.

                2. If, under subsection (2), the Attorney-General authorises—

                3. the taking of evidence, a Judge may, subject to sections 32 and 33 and to any regulations made under this Act, take the evidence on oath of each witness appearing before the Judge and must, in this case,—
                  1. cause the evidence to be put in writing and certify, in the prescribed form, that the evidence was taken by the Judge; and
                    1. cause the writing to be sent to the Attorney-General:
                    2. the production of documents or other articles, a Judge may, subject to sections 32 and 33 and to any regulations made under this Act, require the production of the documents or other articles, and, unless the Judge otherwise orders, must cause the documents, or copies of the documents certified by the Judge to be true copies, or the other articles, to be sent to the Attorney-General.

                      Notes
                      • Section 31: replaced, on , by section 4 of the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Amendment Act 2015 (2015 No 107).