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New Zealand law explained for everyone

Companies Act 1993

Registrar of Companies

363: Inspection and evidence of registers

You could also call this:

“How to access and use company records”

You can look at certain company documents if you pay a fee. You can do this when the District Registrar’s office is open on a working day. You can see documents that are part of the New Zealand register or the overseas register. You can also see details of registered documents that have been put into a computer system.

If you pay a fee, you can ask the Registrar to give you or certify certain things. These include a certificate that shows a company has been incorporated or re-registered. You can also get copies or parts of documents from the New Zealand or overseas registers, or information about registered documents that’s stored in a computer system.

If someone wants the court to make the Registrar show a registered document or proof that it’s in the computer system, they need to get permission from the court first. The court order must say that the court has given permission.

The Registrar can make copies or take parts from registered documents. If the Registrar says these are true copies, they can be used as evidence in court just like the original document.

If the Registrar certifies that certain details about a registered document are in the computer system, this is considered true unless someone can prove it’s not.

There’s another part of the law, section 367A, that might change some of these rules.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM323211.

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Part 20 Registrar of Companies

363Inspection and evidence of registers

  1. A person may, on payment of any fees that are prescribed, inspect—

  2. any document that constitutes part of the New Zealand register or the overseas register:
    1. particulars of any registered document that have been entered on any device or facility referred to in section 360(4):
      1. any registered document particulars of which have been entered in any such device or facility—
          1. during the hours when the office of the District Registrar is open to the public for the transaction of business on a working day.

        1. A person may, on payment of any fees that are prescribed, require the Registrar to give or certify—

        2. a certificate of incorporation of a company; or
          1. a certificate of reregistration of a company under this Act in accordance with the Companies Reregistration Act 1993; or
            1. a copy of, or extract from, a document that constitutes part of the New Zealand register or the overseas register; or
              1. particulars of any registered document that have been entered in any device or facility referred to in section 360(4); or
                1. a copy of, or extract from, a registered document particulars of which have been entered in any such device or facility.

                  1. A process to compel the production of—

                  2. a registered document kept by the Registrar; or
                    1. evidence of the entry of particulars of a registered document in any device or facility referred to in section 360(4)—
                        1. must not issue from the court without the leave of the court and, if it does, it must have a statement attached to it that it is issued with the leave of the court.

                      1. A copy of, or extract from, a registered document—

                      2. that constitutes part of the New Zealand register or the overseas register; or
                        1. particulars of which have been entered in any device or facility referred to in section 360(4)—
                            1. certified to be a true copy or extract by the Registrar is admissible in evidence in legal proceedings to the same extent as the original document.

                          1. An extract certified by the Registrar as containing particulars of a registered document that have been entered in any device or facility referred to in section 360(4) is, in the absence of proof to the contrary, conclusive evidence of the entry of those particulars.

                          2. This section is subject to section 367A.

                          Compare
                          • 1955 No 63 s 9
                          Notes
                          • Section 363(6): inserted, on , by section 17 of the Companies Amendment Act 2014 (2014 No 46).