Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993

Classification of publications - Submission of publications

16: Referral of notice of submission to complaints officer

You could also call this:

"When You Submit Something, It Might Be Sent to a Complaints Officer to Check"

Illustration for Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993

You can submit a publication to be classified. The Chief Censor might send your submission to a complaints officer. The complaints officer will look at the publication and decide if it should be sent to the Classification Office. They will tell the Chief Censor what they think. The complaints officer will consider guidelines when making their decision. You can find these guidelines from the Chief Censor. The Chief Censor will think about the complaints officer's opinion when deciding what to do with your submission. The Chief Censor will look at the report from the complaints officer and use it to help make a decision about your publication. This decision is about whether to let you submit your publication to the Classification Office, as per section 15. The Chief Censor will use the complaints officer's report to help make this decision.

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 It might be out of date or be missing some parts.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

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM313442.

This page was last updated on 8 December 2025 — View changes

Topics:

Arts and culture > Arts fundingArts and culture > Heritage protectionCrime and justice > Courts and legal helpGovernment and voting > Government departments

15: How to submit publications (others), or

"How to submit other types of publications for classification"

17: Submission to lapse if publication unobtainable, or

"What happens if the Classification Office can't get a copy of your publication"

Part 3Classification of publications
Submission of publications

16Referral of notice of submission to complaints officer

Notwithstanding anything in subsection (3) of section 15, where a notice of submission is lodged under that section, the Chief Censor may, in his or her discretion, refer the notice to a complaints officer.
On any such referral, the complaints officer shall—
consider the publication; and
determine whether or not, in his or her opinion, the Chief Censor should give leave under section 15 for the publication to be submitted to the Classification Office; and
report his or her opinion to the Chief Censor.

In making a determination under subsection (2), the complaints officer shall have regard to any guidelines issued for the purpose by the Chief Censor.
Where the Chief Censor receives a report under subsection (2)(c) in relation to a publication, the Chief Censor shall take the recommendation in that report into consideration in deciding, under section 15, whether or not to grant leave for the publication to be submitted to the Classification Office.