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Customs and Excise Act 2018

Final and miscellaneous provisions - Offences - Offences in relation to information

367: Offence in relation to documents that are not genuine

You could also call this:

"It's an offence to give Customs a fake document"

Illustration for Customs and Excise Act 2018

If you give a Customs officer a document that is not genuine, you commit an offence. You do this if you produce or deliver a fake document to a Customs officer. This can get you into trouble with the law.

If you are found guilty of this offence, you can be fined. As an individual, you can be fined up to $1,000. As a company, you can be fined up to $5,000.

You can defend yourself if you can prove you took all reasonable steps to ensure the document was genuine. This means you must show you did everything you could to check the document was real. You can look at the Customs and Excise Act 2018 for more information about this.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM7039831.

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366: Offences in relation to declarations and documents that are erroneous, or

"Breaking the law by giving false information to Customs"

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368: Offences in relation to declarations and documents that are known to be faulty, or

"Lying on customs forms or giving fake documents is against the law"

Part 6Final and miscellaneous provisions
Offences: Offences in relation to information

367Offence in relation to documents that are not genuine

  1. A person commits an offence if the person produces or delivers any document to a Customs officer that is not genuine.

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

  3. in the case of an individual, to a fine not exceeding $1,000:
    1. in the case of a body corporate, to a fine not exceeding $5,000.

      1. It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence under this section if the defendant proves that the defendant took all reasonable steps to ensure that the document was genuine.

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