Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Inspector-General of Defence Act 2023

Inspector-General’s powers to obtain information and assistance - Additional protections for investigations and investigation participants

40: Immunities and privileges of investigation participants

You could also call this:

"People in an investigation have the same rights as they would in court"

Illustration for Inspector-General of Defence Act 2023

You have the same protections when taking part in an investigation as you would in a civil court case. The rules about giving evidence, as outlined in subpart 8 of Part 2 of the Evidence Act 2006, apply to the investigation. This means the investigation is treated like a court case and the Inspector-General has the same powers as a Judge. You can claim that some information is private and should not be shared. The Inspector-General can look at this information to decide if you have a good reason to keep it private. They can also ask someone independent to help make this decision. The Inspector-General's decision is guided by other rules, including section 30. This section helps ensure the investigation is fair and follows the rules. It is an important part of the process.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS718827.

This page was last updated on — View changes

Topics:
Crime and justice > Courts and legal help
Previous

39: Investigations must be conducted in private unless Inspector-General decides otherwise, or

"Investigations are usually private, but the Inspector-General can make them public."

Next

41: Evidence provided in investigation not admissible in other proceedings, or

"Information given to the Inspector-General can't be used as evidence in most other cases."

Part 4Inspector-General’s powers to obtain information and assistance
Additional protections for investigations and investigation participants

40Immunities and privileges of investigation participants

  1. A person participating in an investigation has the same immunities and privileges as if they were appearing in civil proceedings, and subpart 8 of Part 2 of the Evidence Act 2006 applies to the investigation, to the extent that it is relevant, as if—

  2. the investigation were a civil proceeding; and
    1. every reference to a Judge were a reference to the Inspector-General.

      1. The Inspector-General may examine any information, document, or other thing for which privilege is claimed, or refer the information, document, or other thing to an independent person, to determine whether—

      2. the person claiming privilege has a justifiable reason for maintaining the privilege; or
        1. the information, document, or other thing should be disclosed.

          1. This section is subject to section 30.