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Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1992

Requests to New Zealand - Requests for search warrants and production orders - Custody and disposal of things seized or produced

49B: Dispensing with obligation to give notice

You could also call this:

"Asking to skip telling someone when sending evidence overseas"

Illustration for Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1992

You can ask to not give notice about sending something out of New Zealand. The Attorney-General can let the police ask for this. They can ask a Judge for permission. You can ask the Judge at different times. This can be after asking for a search warrant or production order. It can also be when you are applying for the warrant or order. The Judge can say yes if giving notice would put someone in danger. They can also say yes if it would affect an ongoing investigation. This is if the public interest in avoiding this outweighs the interest in giving notice. The public interest includes working with other countries on criminal cases. It also includes not delaying proceedings. The Judge can add conditions to sending the thing out of New Zealand. These conditions can include making sure only relevant evidence is sent. If you ask for permission with a search warrant, the conditions can be part of the warrant.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1524195.

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49A: Sending thing out of New Zealand, or

"Sending things overseas to help with crimes in other countries"

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50: Attorney-General to provide certificate as to search and seizure, or production, or

"Attorney-General must give a certificate about search or production orders"

Part 3Requests to New Zealand
Requests for search warrants and production orders: Custody and disposal of things seized or produced

49BDispensing with obligation to give notice

  1. The Attorney-General may authorise the New Zealand Police to apply for a dispensation from the Attorney-General’s obligation to give notice under section 49A of the Attorney-General’s intention to direct that a thing seized under a search warrant or produced under a production order be sent out of New Zealand.

  2. If the Attorney-General authorises the New Zealand Police to apply for a dispensation from the Attorney-General’s obligation to give notice under that section relating to a thing, a constable may apply to a Judge for a dispensation from that obligation to give notice relating to the thing.

  3. A constable may make the application after the application for the search warrant or production order is made but before the Attorney-General makes a direction of a kind referred to in section 49A(1).

  4. A constable may also make the application at the same time as applying for—

  5. a search warrant that would authorise the seizure of the thing; or
    1. a production order that would require a person to produce the thing.

      1. The Judge may dispense with the Attorney-General’s obligation to give any notice under section 49A relating to the thing if the Judge is satisfied—

      2. that compliance with that obligation would endanger the safety of any person; or
        1. that—
          1. compliance with that obligation would prejudice ongoing investigations (whether relating to an offence against the law of a foreign country or New Zealand) or proceedings for an offence against the law of a foreign country; and
            1. the public interest in avoiding that prejudice outweighs the public interest in the Attorney-General giving the notice.

            2. The public interest in avoiding prejudice to ongoing investigations or proceedings includes the public interest in avoiding that prejudice so as to maintain co-operation between New Zealand and the foreign country concerned in respect of criminal investigations or criminal proceedings.

            3. The public interest in avoiding prejudice to ongoing proceedings includes the public interest in avoiding undue delay of those proceedings.

              Notes

              • The public interest in the Attorney-General giving the notice includes the public interest in ensuring that the seized or produced thing is not sent out of New Zealand before—

              • the notifiable person concerned has an opportunity—
                1. to commence proceedings in New Zealand challenging the legality of the proposed direction or the issue, making, or execution of the search warrant or production order; and
                  1. to obtain an order that the thing not be sent out of New Zealand; and
                  2. if the notifiable person commences proceedings of that kind, those proceedings are finally disposed of or the notifiable person agrees to the thing being sent out of New Zealand.

                    1. The Judge may impose any conditions on a dispensation under this section that relate to sending the thing out of New Zealand.

                    2. Those conditions may include a condition requiring steps to be taken to avoid the risk of things seized or produced under the warrant or production order being sent out of New Zealand that are not evidential material in respect of the offence concerned.

                    3. If a constable applies for the dispensation at the same time as applying for a search warrant, the conditions of the dispensation may be included as conditions of the warrant.

                    Notes
                    • Section 49B: inserted, on , by section 39 of the Budapest Convention and Related Matters Legislation Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 39).