PART 1 - PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS

7.
Obligations imposed by Statute or Rules—

For the purposes of any provision of the Statute or the Rules that confers a power, or imposes a duty or function on a State, that power, duty, or function may be exercised or carried out on behalf of the Government of New Zealand by the Attorney-General, if this Act makes no other provision.

PART 3 - GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO REQUESTS FOR ASSISTANCE

25.
Requests to be made through authorised channel—

(1)A request for assistance must be made through an authorised channel and,—

(a)in the case of a request to which Part 4 applies, be transmitted to the Minister; or

(b)in any other case, be transmitted to the Attorney-General or a person authorised by the Attorney-General to receive requests.


(2)For the purposes of subsection (1) and section 26(1), an ``authorised channel'' is—

(a)the diplomatic channel to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade; or

(b)any other appropriate channel that New Zealand may designate at the time it ratifies the Statute or at any subsequent time in accordance with the Rules.


(3)This section is subject to section 26 (which relates to urgent requests).

Cf 1999 No 55 s 18(2); Statute, articles 87(1)(a) and (b)

Part 1
Request by a Tribunal for assistance

4 Tribunal may request assistance

(2) Any request under subsection (1) shall be made to the Attor¬ney-General or a person authorised by the Attorney-General.

Part 2
Arrest and surrender of person to a Tribunal

Arrest of persons

6 Notice by Attorney-General
(1) Where—

(a) the Attorney-General receives from a Tribunal a request for the surrender of a person ; and
(b) the request is accompanied by an arrest warrant in relation to the person that was issued by the Tribunal, or by a copy of that warrant authenticated by the Tribunal,—

the Attorney-General shall, by notice in writing, directed to any Judge, state that the request has been received.

Part 2
Arrest and surrender of person to a Tribunal

Surrender of persons

12 Surrender determination by Attorney-General

(1) Subject to subsection (2), the Attorney-General shall determine whether a person remanded under sections 6 to 11 is to be surrendered to the Tribunal.

(2) Unless the Attorney-General is satisfied that there are special circumstances that would make it unjust or otherwise inappropriate to surrender the person, the Attorney-General shall determine that the person is to be surrendered to the Tribunal.

(3) The determination shall be made as soon as is reasonably practicable, having regard to the circumstances, after the person is first remanded under section 9.

(4) Notwithstanding subsection (3), every determination required to be made under this section shall be made within 6 months of the date on which the person was first remanded under section 9.

Part 3
Other forms of assistance to a Tribunal

Taking evidence, etc

21 Attorney-General may authorise taking of evidence

(1) This section applies where a Tribunal makes a request to the Attorney-General

(a) for evidence to be taken in New Zealand ; or
(b) for documents or other articles in New Zealand to be produced—

for the purposes of a proceeding before, or an investigation conducted by, the Tribunal.

(2) Subject to section 57, where the Attorney-General is satisfied—

(a) that the request relates to a Tribunal offence ; and
(b) that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the evidence can be taken or, as the case may be, the documents or other articles can be produced in New Zealand,—

the Attorney-General may authorise, in writing, assistance in accordance with section 22 and section 23.

Part 7
Miscellaneous

57 Attorney-General may decline to comply with request in certain cases

The Attorney-General may decline to comply with a request to which section 21, 29, 30, 31, 35, or 41 applies where, in the Attorney-General's opinion,—

(a) to comply with the request would prejudice the sovereignty, security, or national interests of New Zealand ; or

(b) the request relates to the prosecution of a person for an offence in a case where the person has been tried by a national court or authority, whether in New Zealand or elsewhere, in respect of that offence or for another offence constituted by the same act or omission except where the Tribunal is exercising jurisdiction because

(i) the act or omission for which the person has been tried was characterised as an ordinary offence under the law of the country where the trial took place ; or

(ii) the proceedings in the national court or authority were—
(A) not impartial or independent ; or
(B) designed to shield the person from inter-national criminal responsibility ; or
(C) not diligently prosecuted.

(c) the request is for assistance of a kind that would require steps to be taken for its implementation that could not be lawfully taken ; or
(d) there are some other exceptional circumstances that justify non-compliance with the request.

Part 7
Miscellaneous

58 Certificates given by Attorney-General

(1) Where the Attorney-General receives a request made by a Tri-bunal, the Attorney-General may give a certificate certifying all or any of the following facts :

(a) that a request for assistance under this Act has been made by the Tribunal:
(b) that the request meets the requirements of this Act:
(c) that the acceptance of the request has been duly made under and in accordance with this Act.

(2) In any proceeding under this Act a certificate purporting to have been given under subsection (1) shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be sufficient evidence of the matters certified by the certificate.