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Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1992

Requests to New Zealand - Requests for surveillance device warrants - General provisions: applications, issue, and authorised activities

50C: Applications, issue, and authorised activities

You could also call this:

"Applying for a special warrant to use a surveillance device to help solve a serious crime"

Illustration for Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1992

You can apply for a special warrant to use a surveillance device. The Attorney-General must authorise the New Zealand Police to apply for this warrant. A constable can then apply to a Judge for the warrant. If you apply for the warrant, the Judge may give it to you if they think someone has committed a serious crime in another country. The Judge must also think the surveillance will help get evidence of the crime. The warrant can allow you to do certain activities, which are listed in section 46(1) of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012. The Judge can only give you a warrant for highly restricted surveillance if they think the crime is serious enough.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1524477.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Police and safetyCrime and justice > Courts and legal help
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50B: Assistance in obtaining evidential material under surveillance device warrant, or

"Help from NZ to get crime information using a surveillance device"

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50D: Applications and retention of documents, or

"Rules for keeping documents when asking for help with a crime investigation"

Part 3Requests to New Zealand
Requests for surveillance device warrants: General provisions: applications, issue, and authorised activities

50CApplications, issue, and authorised activities

  1. If the Attorney-General authorises the New Zealand Police to apply for a surveillance device warrant, a constable may apply to a Judge for a surveillance device warrant.

  2. On an application by a constable to a Judge, the Judge may issue a surveillance device warrant if satisfied that there are reasonable grounds—

  3. to suspect that an offence against the law of a foreign country has been or will be committed that would be punishable by imprisonment for a term of 2 years or more if the offence were committed in New Zealand; and
    1. to believe that the proposed use of the surveillance warrant will obtain information that is evidential material in respect of the offence.

      1. The surveillance device warrant may authorise 1 or more of the activities specified in section 46(1) of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012.

      2. However, the Judge may issue a surveillance device warrant that allows highly restricted surveillance only if also satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the offence is an eligible offence.

      Notes
      • Section 50C: inserted, on , by section 40 of the Budapest Convention and Related Matters Legislation Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 39).