Substance Addiction (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 2017

Assessment and treatment of persons suffering from severe substance addiction - Rights of patients - Limits on right to receive and send mail and electronic communications

64: Procedure where mail and electronic communications withheld

You could also call this:

"What happens if someone stops you getting your mail or emails"

Illustration for Substance Addiction (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 2017

If your mail or electronic communications are not given to you, you must be told that this has happened, unless the person in charge thinks it would be bad for you to know. You have the right to know what is going on with your mail and electronic communications. The person in charge must follow the rules about what to do with your mail and electronic communications.

If you do not get a piece of mail, it will be sent back to the person who sent it if their address is known. If the address is not known, the mail will be given to the district inspector. The district inspector is a person who checks on the treatment centre where you are.

If you do not get an electronic communication, the person who sent it will be told that you did not get it, unless the person in charge thinks this would be bad for you or the sender. This is done as part of following a direction under section 61(4). The person in charge has to think about what is best for you when making decisions about your mail and electronic communications.

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This page was last updated on 14 August 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6609212.

Topics:

Health and wellbeing > Mental healthRights and equality > Privacy

63: Mail and electronic communications not to be withheld if sent by or to certain people, or

"You can still get and send mail and emails to important people like MPs, judges, and your lawyer."

65: Child or young person entitled to have adult present, or

"You can have a chosen adult with you when a doctor or Judge talks to you."

Part 2Assessment and treatment of persons suffering from severe substance addiction
Rights of patients: Limits on right to receive and send mail and electronic communications

64Procedure where mail and electronic communications withheld

If any mail or electronic communications are not received by, or sent by or on behalf of, a patient in accordance with a direction under section 61(4), the patient must be informed of that fact, unless the responsible clinician is satisfied that to do so would be detrimental to the interests of the patient.
If an item of mail is not received by a patient in accordance with a direction under section 61(4), the item must be dealt with as follows:
if the address of the sender is known to the responsible clinician, it must be returned to the sender:
if the address of the sender is not known to the responsible clinician, it must be—
1. sent to the district inspector; or
2. produced to the district inspector when he or she next visits the treatment centre after the receipt of the item.

If an electronic communication is not received by a patient in accordance with a direction under section 61(4), the sender of the communication must, wherever practicable, be informed of that fact unless the responsible clinician is satisfied that to do so would be detrimental to the interests of the patient or to the interests of the sender.