Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1992

Requests to New Zealand - Assistance in arranging service of process - Assistance in arranging service of process

51: Assistance in arranging service

You could also call this:

"Help to serve court papers to someone in New Zealand"

Illustration for Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1992

You can ask the Attorney-General for help to serve court papers on someone in New Zealand. The Attorney-General will help if they think the request is about a crime in another country and the person is likely in New Zealand. They will also help if the other country has promised to look after a witness, as stated in section 52. If the Attorney-General says yes, they will tell the right people to serve the court papers. These people will try to serve the papers in the way the other country asked, or according to New Zealand law if that is not possible. They will then tell the Attorney-General if the papers were served or not, and why. The Attorney-General gets this information so they can pass it on to the country that made the request. You need to follow New Zealand law when serving the court papers. The people serving the papers will do their best to follow the other country's procedures.

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 It might be out of date or be missing some parts.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

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=LMS1524227.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Courts and legal helpGovernment and voting > Government departments
Previous

50V: Annual reporting by Commissioner of Police, or

"The Police Commissioner's Annual Report: What They Must Tell Us"

Next

52: Undertaking required from foreign country, or

"Promise needed from foreign country before New Zealand helps"

Part 3Requests to New Zealand
Assistance in arranging service of process: Assistance in arranging service of process

51Assistance in arranging service

  1. A foreign country may request the Attorney-General to assist in effecting the service of process on a person in New Zealand.

  2. Where, on receipt of a request made under subsection (1) by a foreign country, the Attorney-General is satisfied—

  3. that the request relates to a criminal matter in the foreign country; and
    1. that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the person to be served is in New Zealand; and
      1. where the request relates to the service of a summons to appear as a witness in the foreign country, that the foreign country has given an adequate undertaking in respect of the matters specified in section 52,—
          1. the Attorney-General may authorise assistance in accordance with this section.

        1. Where service is authorised under subsection (2), the Attorney-General shall direct the appropriate authority to arrange service, and in such a case the authority shall—

        2. use its best endeavours to have the process served—
          1. in accordance with procedures proposed in the request; or
            1. if those procedures would be unlawful or inappropriate in New Zealand, or if no procedures are so proposed, in accordance with the law of New Zealand; and
            2. if the document—
              1. is served, transmit to the Attorney-General for transmission to the foreign country making the request a certificate as to service; or
                1. is not served, transmit to the Attorney-General for transmission to the foreign country a statement of the reasons which prevented the service.

                Notes
                • Section 51(1): amended, on , by section 9 of the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Amendment Act 1998 (1998 No 15).