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Criminal Procedure Act 2011

Miscellaneous and transitional provisions - Miscellaneous provisions

375: Conviction not to be recorded for infringement offences

You could also call this:

"No conviction is recorded if you break a rule and have to pay a fine."

Illustration for Criminal Procedure Act 2011

If you are found guilty of an infringement offence, the court must not convict you. The court can order you to pay a fine and costs, and make other orders as if you had been convicted. You will have to pay the fine and costs.

When the law talks about being convicted of an offence, it means being ordered to pay a fine and costs for an infringement offence. This can happen in two ways: the court can order you to pay a fine and costs, or you can be deemed to have been ordered to pay a fine and costs under section 21(5) or (5A) of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957. This rule applies to all infringement offences.

Some parts of the law do not apply to deemed orders to pay a fine and costs under section 21(5) or (5A) of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957. This section of the law is important and overrides any other law that says something different. It applies to all infringement offences, even if the law does not mention conviction.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM3360592.

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Crime and justice > Criminal lawCrime and justice > Courts and legal help
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"Getting paid back for going to court as a witness"

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"Being sentenced means you're considered guilty, even if the court doesn't say it."

Part 8Miscellaneous and transitional provisions
Miscellaneous provisions

375Conviction not to be recorded for infringement offences

  1. If a defendant is found guilty of, or pleads guilty to, an infringement offence (whether or not an infringement notice has been issued), the court—

  2. must not convict the defendant; but
    1. may order the defendant to pay any fine and costs and may make any other order that the court would be authorised to order or make as if the court were able to convict a defendant of the offence.

      1. Every reference in this or any other Act, or in any secondary legislation, to a conviction for an offence is, in relation to an infringement offence, deemed to be a reference to—

      2. an order that the defendant pay a fine and costs under subsection (1)(b); or
        1. a deemed order that the defendant pay a fine and costs under section 21(5) or (5A) of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957.

          1. However, sections 229, 244, and 246 do not apply to any deemed order that the defendant pay a fine and costs under section 21(5) or (5A) of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957.

          2. This section applies to every infringement offence whether or not there is an express reference to a conviction in the infringement offence provision or in any provision specifying the penalty for the infringement offence.

          3. Subsection (1) overrides any other provision of this Act or any other Act.

          Compare
          Notes
          • Section 375(1)(b): amended, on , by section 32(1) of the Statutes Amendment Act 2019 (2019 No 56).
          • Section 375(2): amended, on , by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).
          • Section 375(3A): inserted, on , by section 32(2) of the Statutes Amendment Act 2019 (2019 No 56).