Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Amendment Act 2015

1: Title
This Act is the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Amendment Act 2015.
2: Commencement
1: Section 4
a: a date appointed by the Governor-General by Order in Council:
b: the day that is 90 days after the date on which the Act receives the Royal assent.
2: Section 5
3: Principal Act
This Act amends the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1992 principal Act 2016-02-04 Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1992 section 4: refer section 2(1)﻿(b) the day that is 90 days after the date on which the Act receives the Royal assent; can be brought into force earlier by OIC 2015-11-07 Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1992 section 5: refer section 2(2) — the day after the date on which the Act receives the Royal assent.
4: Section 31 replaced (Assistance in obtaining evidence in New Zealand)
Replace section 31
31: Assistance in obtaining evidence in New Zealand
1: A foreign country may request the Attorney-General to assist in arranging—
a: the taking of evidence in New Zealand; or
b: the production of documents or other articles in New Zealand; or
c: the undertaking of a forensic comparison under the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Act 1995 and the production of a document specifying the result of that comparison.
2: The Attorney-General may, in writing, authorise the requested assistance if,—
a: in the case of receipt of a request made under subsection (1)﻿(a) or (b) by a foreign country, the Attorney-General is satisfied that—
i: the request relates to criminal proceedings in the foreign country; and
ii: there are reasonable grounds for believing that the evidence can be taken or the documents or other articles can be produced in New Zealand:
b: in the case of receipt of a request made under subsection (1)﻿(c) by a foreign country, the Attorney-General is satisfied that—
i: the request relates to a criminal matter in the foreign country; and
ii: the request is in respect of an offence that corresponds to an offence in New Zealand that is punishable by a term of imprisonment of more than 1 year.
3: If, under subsection (2), the Attorney-General authorises—
a: the taking of evidence, a Judge may, subject to sections 32 and 33 and to any regulations made under this Act, take the evidence on oath of each witness appearing before the Judge and must, in this case,—
i: cause the evidence to be put in writing and certify, in the prescribed form, that the evidence was taken by the Judge; and
ii: cause the writing to be sent to the Attorney-General:
b: the production of documents or other articles, a Judge may, subject to sections 32 and 33 and to any regulations made under this Act, require the production of the documents or other articles, and, unless the Judge otherwise orders, must cause the documents, or copies of the documents certified by the Judge to be true copies, or the other articles, to be sent to the Attorney-General.
5: Schedule 1 amended
In Schedule 1 The following table is small in size and has 3 columns. This table amends Schedule 1 of the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1992 and should be read with that table to provide understanding of the context. 32 The United Nations Convention against Corruption (2003) An offence against any of the following sections of the Crimes Act 1961: section subject matter 100 judicial corruption 101 bribery of judicial officer, etc 102 corruption and bribery of Minister of the Crown 103 corruption and bribery of member of Parliament 104 corruption and bribery of law enforcement officer 105 corruption and bribery of official 105A corrupt use of official information 105B use or disclosure of personal information disclosed in breach of section 105A 105C bribery of foreign public official 105D bribery outside New Zealand of foreign public official 105E corruption of foreign public officials 105F trading in influence 116 conspiring to defeat justice 117 corrupting juries and witnesses 219 theft or stealing 220 theft by person in special relationship 228 dishonestly taking or using document 240 obtaining by deception or causing loss by deception 243 money laundering 246 receiving 249 accessing computer system for dishonest purpose An offence against any of the following sections of the Secret Commissions Act 1910: section subject matter 3 gifts to agent without consent of principal an offence 4 acceptance of such gifts by agent an offence 8 receiving secret reward for procuring contracts an offence