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Intelligence and Security Act 2017

Covert activities of intelligence and security agencies - Assumed identities

32: Immunity of authorised persons

You could also call this:

"Protection for people doing secret jobs who follow the rules and act with care"

Illustration for Intelligence and Security Act 2017

If you are an authorised person, you are protected from getting in trouble for things you do or don't do, as long as you act in good faith and with reasonable care. This protection applies when you are using a fake identity that you were allowed to use under section 23, or when you are following certain rules mentioned in section 26(3)(c). You are protected when you are doing things as part of your job with this fake identity.

However, this protection does not apply if you break the rules of your job, unless you had to break those rules to keep your fake identity safe. It also does not apply if you do something that requires a special qualification, like flying a plane, and you don't have that qualification.

If you get a document, like a licence, that says you have a qualification, but you really don't, you still can't do things that require that qualification. In this case, a qualification means something that shows you are allowed to do a certain job, like a licence or a special approval.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6920978.

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31: Immunity of persons assisting and of employee of agency in making false documents, or

"Protection for people who help intelligence agencies or make fake documents for a good reason"

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33: Purpose of subpart, or

"What this part of the law is about: letting spy agencies use a secret name to do their work"

Part 3Covert activities of intelligence and security agencies
Assumed identities

32Immunity of authorised persons

  1. An authorised person is protected from civil and criminal liability, however it may arise, for any act that the authorised person does, or omits to do, in good faith and with reasonable care—

  2. in the course of acquiring, using, or maintaining an assumed identity in accordance with an authorisation given under section 23; and
    1. in accordance with any protections referred to in section 26(3)(c).

      1. Subsection (1) does not apply to—

      2. anything done, or not done, by an authorised person in breach of any contractual arrangement (unless the breach is a necessary consequence of using or maintaining the assumed identity); or
        1. anything done by an authorised person if a particular qualification is needed to do the thing and the person does not have that qualification (for example, a person who is not qualified to fly a plane is not authorised to fly even though he or she has acquired a pilot’s licence under an assumed identity).

          1. Subsection (2)(b) applies whether or not the authorised person has acquired, as evidence of an assumed identity, a document that indicates that he or she has that qualification.

          2. In this section, qualification means a qualification, licence, registration, or other approval.