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Armed Forces Discipline Act 1971

Investigation and summary trial of charges - Preliminary procedures and investigation of charges - Initial referral of charges

109: Charge must be referred to subordinate commander in certain circumstances

You could also call this:

"When you're accused of doing something wrong in the Armed Forces, your charge goes to your boss."

Illustration for Armed Forces Discipline Act 1971

If you are in the Armed Forces and someone says you did something wrong, this might be written down as a charge. You need to be below a certain rank, like chief petty officer in the Navy, staff sergeant in the Army, or flight sergeant in the Air Force. Your charge must be sent to your subordinate commander. Your subordinate commander will deal with your charge. They will follow the rules in this part of the law. But there might be other rules that say someone else should deal with your charge, or that someone else should be in charge of it, and those rules are more important. You can find more information about changes to this law in the Armed Forces Discipline Amendment Act (No 2) 2007.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM403406.

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Part 5Investigation and summary trial of charges
Preliminary procedures and investigation of charges: Initial referral of charges

109Charge must be referred to subordinate commander in certain circumstances

  1. This section applies if—

  2. an allegation has been recorded in the form of a charge; and
    1. the accused is below the rank of chief petty officer in the Navy, staff sergeant in the Army, or flight sergeant in the Air Force; and
      1. the accused has a subordinate commander who is empowered to act as a disciplinary officer in relation to the charge.

        1. The charge against the accused must be referred to the subordinate commander.

        2. The subordinate commander must act under this subpart as the disciplinary officer in relation to the charge.

        3. Subsection (3) is subject to any other provision of this Part that provides for—

        4. the referral of the charge to another person; or
          1. another person to act as the disciplinary officer in relation to the charge.

            Notes
            • Section 109: substituted, on , by section 37 of the Armed Forces Discipline Amendment Act (No 2) 2007 (2007 No 98).