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Coroners Act 2006

Deaths to be reported and post-mortems - Interests of families and other relevant people or organisations

28: Any person may access specified certificates and notices

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"You can ask to see certain documents like certificates and notices for free"

Illustration for Coroners Act 2006

You can ask to see certain certificates and notices. You need to make a written request to the department in charge. They will let you see these documents for free during office hours. You can also get a copy of these documents, but you might need to pay a fee. The fee is set by an officer or employee of the department, as stated in section 30. You can get copies of notices about a coroner's decision not to open an inquiry, as stated in section 64, or section 70(4). You can also get copies of certificates about a coroner's findings, as stated in section 93 or section 94. However, you cannot share this information if it is prohibited by section 71 or section 74. These rules also apply to certificates and notices from the Coroners Act 1988. This includes notices about a coroner's decision not to hold an inquest, as stated in section 20(2) of that Act. It also includes certificates about a coroner's findings, as stated in section 31 of that Act.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM377549.

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29: Access to other documents given to Secretary, or

"Seeing documents given to the Secretary about a coroner's case"

Part 2Deaths to be reported and post-mortems
Interests of families and other relevant people or organisations

28Any person may access specified certificates and notices

  1. On a written request for the purpose made to the responsible department, any person may, without charge, during ordinary office hours inspect and, on payment of the charge (if any) fixed by an officer or employee of the responsible department under section 30, obtain a copy of a certificate or notice given to the Secretary under this Act and that is—

  2. a notice under section 64 of a coroner's decision not to open an inquiry; or
    1. a notice under section 70(4) of a coroner's decision not to open or resume a postponed or adjourned inquiry; or
      1. a certificate under section 93 of a coroner's interim findings in relation to a death (which includes a written statement of the reasons for those findings); or
        1. a certificate under section 94 of a coroner's findings in relation to a death (which includes a written statement of the reasons for those findings).

          1. A copy may be obtained under subsection (1) despite a prohibition under section 74 (which empowers the coroner to prohibit the making public of evidence given at any part of inquiry proceedings), but nothing in this section permits a person to make public any information in contravention of section 71 or 74.

          2. Subsections (1) and (2) apply to the following certificates and notices given to the Secretary under the Coroners Act 1988 (but, for the purposes of this subsection, the references in subsection (2) to sections 74 and 71 must be read as references to sections 25(2)(b) and 29 of that Act respectively):

          3. a notice under section 20(2) of that Act of a coroner's decision not to hold an inquest under that Act:
            1. a notice under section 28(7) of that Act of a coroner's decision not to open or resume an inquest under that Act:
              1. a certificate under section 31 of that Act of a coroner's findings in relation to a death.

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                Notes
                • Section 28(2): amended, on , by section 21 of the Coroners Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 29).