Regulations relating to prescribed foreign countries

New Zealand can make or receive a request for mutual assistance from any country, and there is no need for countries to be prescribed in regulations. Mutual Assistance requests are processed in accordance with the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1992 (MACMA).

MACMA allows for requests to be made by prescribed foreign countries, convention countries, and all other countries on an ad-hoc basis.

To facilitate mutual assistance, New Zealand has declared by regulations a number of countries to be prescribed foreign countries. These countries are currently Australia, Fiji, Hong Kong, Niue, China, The Republic of Korea, The United Kingdom and the United States of America. Please click here for a list of MACMA regulations.

Countries which are party to certain conventions are listed in the schedule to MACMA. Ad-hoc requests are subject to the conditions set out in sectio 25A of MACMA.

New Zealand can make a mutual assistance request to any country. However, whether the request is accepted will depend on the domestic laws of that country.