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Electoral Act 1993

Election advertising - General rules governing election advertisements

204I: Electoral Commission to provide advice on application of definition of election advertisement

You could also call this:

"Ask the Electoral Commission if an ad is an election ad and they will give you advice."

Illustration for Electoral Act 1993

You can ask the Electoral Commission for advice on whether an advertisement is an election advertisement. They will give you their opinion as soon as they can after you ask. You need to give them the advertisement when you ask for their advice.

The Electoral Commission will keep the advertisement and their advice to you confidential for a certain period. This period starts when they get the advertisement and ends the day after the election result is official. But they can give this information to the New Zealand Police if it is needed to investigate or prosecute an offence related to an election.

The Electoral Commission's confidentiality rule overrides the Official Information Act 1982 and the Privacy Act 2020. This means they do not have to follow those laws when keeping the information confidential. You should know that the Electoral Commission has to follow this rule to keep the information secret.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM3486970.

Topics:
Government and voting > Elections
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204H: Publication of party advertisement promoting party, or

"Getting permission to advertise for a political party"

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204J: Duty of Electoral Commission to report suspected offences, or

"The Electoral Commission must tell the Police if they think someone broke election advertising laws."

Part 6AAElection advertising
General rules governing election advertisements

204IElectoral Commission to provide advice on application of definition of election advertisement

  1. Any person (a requestor) may request the Electoral Commission to provide advice on whether, in the opinion of the Electoral Commission, an advertisement constitutes an election advertisement.

  2. A request made under subsection (1) must be accompanied by the advertisement in the form required by the Electoral Commission.

  3. On receipt of a request under subsection (1), the Electoral Commission must, as soon as is reasonably practicable, provide an opinion to the requestor.

  4. During the period specified in subsection (6), the Electoral Commission must treat the following documents as confidential:

  5. an advertisement received under subsection (2):
    1. any supporting material made available by the requestor to the Electoral Commission:
      1. advice given by the Electoral Commission to a requestor under subsection (3).

        1. Notwithstanding subsection (4), the Electoral Commission may, upon request or on its own initiative, make available to the New Zealand Police copies of the documents referred to in that subsection to assist with the investigation or prosecution of any offence or suspected offence relating to an election.

        2. The period specified for the purposes of subsection (4) is, in relation to a document, the period that—

        3. begins on the day the Electoral Commission receives the document; and
          1. ends on the day after the day for the return of the writ for the election to which the advertisement relates.

            1. Subsection (4) overrides the Official Information Act 1982 and the Privacy Act 2020.

            Notes
            • Section 204I: inserted, on , by section 7 of the Electoral (Finance Reform and Advance Voting) Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 137).
            • Section 204I(7): amended, on , by section 217 of the Privacy Act 2020 (2020 No 31).