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371D: Offence to impersonate enforcement officer
or “You can get in trouble if you pretend to be someone who checks if buildings are safe.”

You could also call this:

“When and how police officers can give you a ticket for breaking a small rule”

If you break a building rule, you might get an infringement notice. This is a document that says you did something wrong. An enforcement officer can give you this notice if they see you breaking the rule or if they have a good reason to think you did.

The officer can give you the notice in two ways. They can hand it to you in person, or they can send it to your home or work address by post. If they send it by post, the law says you got the notice on the day they put it in the mail.

Remember, the enforcement officer who gives you the notice might not be the same one who wrote it. Any enforcement officer can deliver the notice to you.

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Next up: 373: Form of infringement notices

or “A special notice that tells you about a small wrong you might have done and how to fix it”

Part 5 Miscellaneous provisions
Other offences and criminal proceedings: Proceedings for infringement offences

372Issue of infringement notices

  1. An infringement notice may be served on a person if an enforcement officer—

  2. observes the person committing an infringement offence; or
    1. has reasonable cause to believe that an infringement offence is being or has been committed by that person.
      1. An infringement notice may be served—

      2. by an enforcement officer (not necessarily the person who issued the notice) personally delivering it (or a copy of it) to the person alleged to have committed the infringement offence; or
        1. by post addressed to the person's last known place of residence or business.
          1. An infringement notice sent to a person under subsection (2)(b) must be treated as having been served on that person when it was posted.

          Notes
          • Section 372(3): amended, on , by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).