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Crimes Act 1961

Miscellaneous provisions

400: Consent of Attorney-General to certain prosecutions

You could also call this:

“The Attorney-General must agree before someone can be charged for certain crimes that happen outside New Zealand or on foreign ships or planes.”

If you are suspected of committing certain crimes outside of New Zealand or on foreign ships or aircraft, you can’t be charged without the Attorney-General’s permission. This applies even if you are a New Zealand citizen or usually live here.

The Attorney-General needs to agree that it’s a good idea to start legal proceedings against you. If the crime happened on a foreign government’s ship or aircraft, the Attorney-General also needs that country’s government to agree before allowing charges.

Even though the Attorney-General hasn’t given permission yet, you can still be arrested, have an arrest warrant issued, or be held in custody or on bail. But nothing else can happen in the legal process until the Attorney-General gives the go-ahead.

These rules don’t apply to crimes under the Maritime Transport Act 1994 or Part 5A of the Civil Aviation Act 1990. Those laws have their own rules about prosecutions.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM332165.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal law
Crime and justice > Courts and legal help
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Part 14 Miscellaneous provisions

400Consent of Attorney-General to certain prosecutions

  1. No charging document shall, by virtue only of the provisions of this Act, be filed against any person who—

  2. whether or not he or she is a New Zealand citizen or a person ordinarily resident in New Zealand, is alleged to have committed beyond New Zealand an offence on board or by means of any ship or aircraft which is not a New Zealand ship or a New Zealand aircraft, or an offence to which subsection (3) of section 8 applies; or
    1. whether or not he or she is a New Zealand citizen or a person ordinarily resident in New Zealand, is alleged to have committed, anywhere within New Zealand or in the space above New Zealand, an offence on board or by means of any ship or aircraft which belongs to the Government of any country other than New Zealand or is held by any person on behalf or for the benefit of that government, whether or not the ship or aircraft is for the time being used as a ship or aircraft of any of the armed forces of that country—
        1. except with the consent of the Attorney-General and on his or her certificate that it is expedient that the proceedings should be instituted; and where the proceedings would be instituted only by virtue of the jurisdiction conferred by paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section 8 the Attorney-General shall not give his or her consent unless he or she is satisfied that the Government of the country to which the ship or aircraft belongs has consented to the institution of the proceedings:

        provided that a person alleged to have committed any such offence may be arrested, or a warrant for his or her arrest may be issued and executed, and he or she may be remanded in custody or on bail, notwithstanding that the consent of the Attorney-General to the filing of a charging document for the offence has not been obtained; but no further or other proceedings shall be taken until that consent has been obtained.

      1. Nothing in this section shall apply with respect to any offence against the Maritime Transport Act 1994 or Part 5A of the Civil Aviation Act 1990.

      Compare
      • 1953 No 120 s 5(1)
      Notes
      • Section 400 heading: replaced, on , by section 4 of the Crimes Amendment Act 1980 (1980 No 63).
      • Section 400(1): amended, on , by section 6 of the Crimes Amendment Act (No 4) 2011 (2011 No 85).
      • Section 400(1): amended, on , by section 4(1)(a) of the Crimes Amendment Act 1980 (1980 No 63).
      • Section 400(1): amended, on , by section 4(1)(c) of the Crimes Amendment Act 1980 (1980 No 63).
      • Section 400(1)(a): amended, on , by section 4(1)(b) of the Crimes Amendment Act 1980 (1980 No 63).
      • Section 400(1)(b): amended, on , by section 4(1)(b) of the Crimes Amendment Act 1980 (1980 No 63).
      • Section 400(1) proviso: amended, on , by section 6 of the Crimes Amendment Act (No 4) 2011 (2011 No 85).
      • Section 400(1) proviso: amended, on , by section 4(1)(d) of the Crimes Amendment Act 1980 (1980 No 63).
      • Section 400(2): amended, on , by section 41(3) of the Civil Aviation Amendment Act 2004 (2004 No 8).
      • Section 400(2): amended, on , pursuant to section 202(1) of the Maritime Transport Act 1994 (1994 No 104).