Electoral Act 1993

Election expenses, donations, and annual financial statements - Disclosure of parties' donations

210E: Obligation to retain records necessary to verify return of party donations

You could also call this:

"Parties must keep donation records to ensure honesty and transparency."

If you are a party secretary, you must keep all records and documents that are needed to check the returns of party donations. You must keep these records until the time limit for starting a prosecution under this Act has expired. This means you must keep them for a certain period of time in case someone needs to check them.

You must take all reasonable steps to ensure these records are kept safe. If you do not keep these records and you do not have a good reason for not doing so, you can be charged with an offence. If you are found guilty, you can be fined up to $40,000.

You need to keep these records so that returns under sections 210 and 210C can be verified. This means you must keep records that will help check if the returns are correct.

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This page was last updated on 18 July 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM1868351.

Topics:

Government and voting > Elections

210D: Offences relating to return of party donations, or

"Breaking the rules about reporting party donations can lead to big fines or serious trouble"

210F: Return of party donations to be publicly available, or

"People can see what donations political parties get and how much they are"

Part 6AElection expenses, donations, and annual financial statements
Disclosure of parties' donations

210EObligation to retain records necessary to verify return of party donations

A party secretary must take all reasonable steps to ensure that all records, documents, and accounts that are necessary to enable returns under sections 210 and 210C to be verified are retained until the expiry of the period within which a prosecution may be commenced under this Act in relation to the returns or in relation to any matter to which the returns relate.
A party secretary who fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $40,000.

Compare

2007 No 111 s 55

Notes

Section 210E: inserted, on 1 March 2009, by section 6 of the Electoral Amendment Act 2009 (2009 No 1).
Section 210E(2): amended, on 1 July 2013, by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).