When you are in court for breaking a rule in the Medicines Act 1981, some things are assumed to be true. You are assumed to have the right medicine in a container if the label says so. This is true until someone proves it is not. If you are in court for breaking a rule about a new medicine, it is assumed to be a new medicine. This is because of the rules in section 3(3)(c). This is true until someone proves it is not a new medicine.

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This page was last updated on 27 October 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM56071.

Topics:

Health and wellbeing > Public healthCrime and justice > Courts and legal help

72: Special provisions relating to imported consignments, or

"Rules for Checking Medicines Brought into New Zealand"

74: Certificates of Director-General or Medical Officer of Health, or

"Official records of medicine information are accepted as true in court"

Part 5Enforcement

73Certain matters presumed

In any prosecution for an offence against this Act or against any regulations made under this Act, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that the contents of a container conform with any purported description of the contents shown on any label attached to the container.
In any prosecution for an offence against this Act or against any regulations made under this Act involving any medicine that is a new medicine by virtue of section 3(3)(c), it shall be presumed that the medicine is a new medicine until the contrary is proved.

Compare

1960 No 97 s 50A
1979 No 27 s 58