Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Land Transport Act 1998

Driver licensing

29B: Passenger endorsement may be reinstated in certain cases

You could also call this:

“You might be able to get your passenger licence back after a serious crime”

You can ask the Director to give you back your passenger endorsement if you’ve been convicted of a serious crime. This applies if your endorsement expired between 22 June 2005 and 15 January 2006, or if it was cancelled because of your conviction. You can only do this if you weren’t sent to prison for more than 12 months for certain serious crimes.

The Director will decide if giving you back your endorsement is safe and in the public interest. They’ll look at things like what punishment you got, how long ago it was, what exactly you did, and if you’ve done other crimes. They’ll also think about general safety rules and anything else that might be important.

If the Director says yes, you can have your endorsement back unless you commit another serious crime. If they say no, you can ask the High Court to look at the decision again.

In this law, ‘imprisonment’ and ‘specified serious offence’ mean the same things as they do in another part of the law called section 29A(4).

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM434576.

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29A: Persons convicted of specified serious offences prohibited from holding passenger endorsement, or

"People who committed serious crimes can't drive passengers"

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30: Driver licences are property of Agency and are to be surrendered in certain circumstances, or

"You must give back your driver licence in certain situations"

Part 4 Driver licensing

29BPassenger endorsement may be reinstated in certain cases

  1. A person who has a conviction for a specified serious offence may apply to the Director to have the passenger endorsement reinstated if—

  2. the person's passenger endorsement—
    1. is deemed to be expired and of no effect under section 29A(2); or
      1. expired during the period beginning on 22 June 2005 and ending on the close of 15 January 2006; and
      2. the person has not, with respect to a conviction for an offence specified in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of the definition of specified serious offence in section 29A(4), been sentenced to imprisonment for a term exceeding 12 months.

        1. If an application is made under subsection (1), the Director—

        2. may reinstate the applicant's passenger endorsement if satisfied that allowing the applicant to hold a passenger endorsement would not—
          1. be contrary to the public interest; and
            1. pose an undue risk to public safety or security; and
            2. must, when determining whether reinstating the applicant's passenger endorsement would not be contrary to the public interest and would not pose an undue risk to public safety or security, have regard to—
              1. the sentence imposed for the applicant's last conviction for a specified serious offence; and
                1. the length of time since the applicant's last conviction for a specified serious offence; and
                  1. the nature and circumstances of each specified serious offence for which the applicant has been convicted; and
                    1. any other convictions that the applicant has; and
                      1. the general safety criteria set out in section 30C; and
                        1. any other matters that the Director considers relevant, including (but not limited to) submissions by any affected party.

                        2. If the Director decides to reinstate the person's passenger endorsement under subsection (2) or allow a person to hold a passenger endorsement under section 29A(3), section 29A(1) does not apply with respect to the person unless the person commits a specified serious offence on or after the date of the Director’s decision.

                        3. If the Director decides not to reinstate the person's passenger endorsement under subsection (2) or allow a person to hold a passenger endorsement under section 29A(3), the person may appeal to the High Court.

                        4. For the purposes of this section,—

                          imprisonment has the same meaning as in section 29A(4)

                            specified serious offence has the same meaning as in section 29A(4).

                            Notes
                            • Section 29B: substituted, on , by section 5(1) of the Land Transport Amendment Act 2006 (2006 No 2).
                            • Section 29B(1): amended, on , by section 37(1) of the Land Transport (NZTA) Legislation Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 48).
                            • Section 29B(2): amended, on , by section 37(1) of the Land Transport (NZTA) Legislation Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 48).
                            • Section 29B(2)(b)(vi): amended, on , by section 37(1) of the Land Transport (NZTA) Legislation Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 48).
                            • Section 29B(3): amended, on , by section 37(1) of the Land Transport (NZTA) Legislation Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 48).
                            • Section 29B(3): amended, on , by section 37(2) of the Land Transport (NZTA) Legislation Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 48).
                            • Section 29B(4): amended, on , by section 37(1) of the Land Transport (NZTA) Legislation Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 48).