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Customs and Excise Act 2018

Administrative provisions - Registered user systems

329: Offences in relation to unauthorised access to or improper use of registered user system

You could also call this:

"Breaking into a computer system or using its information wrongly is against the law"

Illustration for Customs and Excise Act 2018

If you access a registered user system without permission, you commit an offence. You do this if you knowingly gain access to the system without lawful authority. You also commit an offence if you use information from the system for an unauthorised purpose.

If you get information from a registered user system when you are not allowed to, and you use or share that information, you commit an offence. You must not receive, use, or share information from the system if you are not authorised to do so. This applies even if you did not get the information directly from the system.

If you commit an offence, you can be punished when convicted. As an individual, you can be imprisoned for up to 2 years or fined up to $15,000. As a body corporate, you can be fined up to $75,000, see the Customs and Excise Act 2018 for more information.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM7039779.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal lawMoney and consumer rights > Consumer protection
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328: Regulations in relation to access, or

"Rules for using registered systems safely and fairly"

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330: Offence in relation to interference with registered user system, or

"It's an offence to mess with a registered user system or its records on purpose"

Part 5Administrative provisions
Registered user systems

329Offences in relation to unauthorised access to or improper use of registered user system

  1. A person commits an offence if the person—

  2. knowingly, and without lawful authority, by any means gains access to, or attempts to gain access to, a registered user system; or
    1. having gained lawful access to a registered user system, knowingly uses or discloses information obtained from the registered user system for an unauthorised purpose; or
      1. knowing that he or she is not authorised to do so,—
        1. receives information obtained from a registered user system; and
          1. uses, discloses, publishes, or otherwise disseminates that information.

          2. A person who commits an offence under this section is liable on conviction,—

          3. in the case of an individual, to—
            1. imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years; or
              1. a fine not exceeding $15,000:
              2. in the case of a body corporate, to a fine not exceeding $75,000.

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