Intelligence and Security Act 2017

Authorisations - Offences and immunities

106: Offence to provide false or misleading information

You could also call this:

"Telling lies when asking for a special permission can get you in trouble with the law."

Illustration for Intelligence and Security Act 2017

If you are a Director-General or an employee of an intelligence and security agency, you must tell the truth when making a warrant application. If you provide false or misleading information in a warrant application, you can be charged with an offence and might go to prison for up to one year. You will be considered to have committed an offence if the information you provide is incorrect or misleading.

If you are charged with this offence, you can defend yourself by saying you did not know the information was false or misleading. You must also show that you took all reasonable care to make sure the information was correct. This means you must have done everything a reasonable person would do to ensure the information was accurate.

When making a warrant application, you are applying for a special permission, such as an intelligence warrant, a removal warrant, or a practice warrant.

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This page was last updated on 3 October 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM7118964.

Topics:

Crime and justice > Criminal lawGovernment and voting > Government departments

105: Physical items seized to be returned after search or analysis, or

"Things taken by security agencies must be returned after they're done with them, unless there's a good reason not to."

107: Failure to destroy information, or

"Breaking the rules about getting rid of secret information can lead to a big fine"

Part 4Authorisations
Offences and immunities

106Offence to provide false or misleading information

A Director-General of an intelligence and security agency or an employee of an intelligence and security agency who makes a warrant application that contains any false or misleading information commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 1 year.
It is a defence to a charge under subsection (1) that the Director-General of an intelligence and security agency to whom the charge relates did not know that he or she was providing false or misleading information and had exercised all reasonable care and due diligence to ensure that the information provided was not false or misleading.
In this section, warrant application means an application for the issue of any of the following:
an intelligence warrant (including the urgent issue of an intelligence warrant):
a removal warrant:
a practice warrant.