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Customs and Excise Act 2018

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

383: Failure to answer questions

You could also call this:

"Telling the truth when customs asks you a question"

Illustration for Customs and Excise Act 2018

If you are asked a question under the Customs and Excise Act 2018, you must answer it. You commit an offence if you fail or refuse to answer without a good reason, or if you give an incorrect answer.

If you are charged with this offence, you can defend yourself if you can prove you did not have the information to answer the question, or if you honestly believed your answer was correct at the time.

You cannot say you will not answer a question just because it might get you into trouble. If you commit this offence, you can be fined up to $5,000 if you are an individual, or up to $25,000 if you are a company.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM7039850.

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382: Unauthorised presence in certain Customs-controlled areas, or

"Going into restricted areas at airports or ports without permission is against the law"

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384: False allegation or report to Customs officer alleging that offence committed, or

"Telling lies to a Customs officer about someone committing a crime can get you in trouble."

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

383Failure to answer questions

  1. A person who is required to answer a question under this Act commits an offence if, when the question is put, the person—

  2. fails or refuses, without reasonable excuse, to answer the question; or
    1. gives an incorrect answer to the question.

      1. It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence under this section if the defendant proves that, when required to answer the question, the defendant—

      2. did not have, in the defendant’s knowledge, possession, or control, the information required to answer the question; or
        1. honestly and reasonably believed that the answer the defendant gave was, in all the circumstances, correct at that time.

          1. It is not a reasonable excuse for the purposes of subsection (1)(a) for a person to fail or refuse to answer a question on the ground that to answer would or might incriminate or tend to incriminate that person.

          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 $5,000:
            1. in the case of a body corporate, to a fine not exceeding $25,000.