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Natural Environment Bill

Enforcement and other matters - Enforcement - Powers of entry and search

276: Warrant for entry for search

You could also call this:

"Searching a place or vehicle with a special permit if someone might have broken the law"

Illustration for Natural Environment Bill

You can get a warrant to search a place or vehicle if you think someone has broken the law. This happens when a police officer or enforcement officer asks a special officer to issue a warrant. The special officer must believe that something is happening or will happen that breaks the law. You can search for things that are evidence of a crime or things that will be used to commit a crime. The search can happen if the crime is punishable by imprisonment, as stated in the Natural Environment Bill or its regulations. The rules from the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 apply when searching a place or vehicle. However, some of these rules only apply to police officers, not to other enforcement officers, as stated in sections 118 and 119 of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1529088.

This page was last updated on 14 December 2025 — View changes

Topics:

Crime and justice > Police and safetyCrime and justice > Courts and legal help

275: Power of entry for survey, or

"People can enter your land to do surveys and tests, with notice and ID."

277: Direction and execution of warrant for entry for search, or

"Police can search a place with a special permission slip called a warrant"

Part 6Enforcement and other matters
Enforcement: Powers of entry and search

276Warrant for entry for search

An issuing officer (within the meaning of section 3 of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012) who, on an application made by a constable or enforcement officer in the manner provided in subpart 3 of Part 4 of that Act, may issue a warrant authorising the entry and search of any place or vehicle if satisfied that there is reasonable ground for believing that there is in, on, under, or over any place or vehicle anything——
in respect of which an offence has been or is suspected of having been committed against this Act or regulations that is punishable by imprisonment; or
that there is reasonable ground to believe will be evidence of an offence against this Act or regulations that is punishable by imprisonment; or
that there is reasonable ground to believe is intended to be used for the purpose of committing an offence against this Act or regulations that is punishable by imprisonment.

The provisions of Part 4 of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 apply for the purposes of this section.
Despite subsection (2), sections 118 and 119 of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 apply only in respect of a constable.