Private Investigators and Security Guards Act 1974

3 Meaning of private investigator

• (1) In this Act, private investigator means a person who carries on any business, either by himself or in partnership with any other person, whereby—

  • (a) at the request of any person as a client of the business and not as a member of the public or of any section of the public; and

  • (b) for valuable consideration—

  he seeks or obtains for any person or supplies to any person any information described in subsection (2).

  (2) For the purposes of this section, information means any information relating to—

  • (a) the personal character, actions, or behaviour of any person; or

  • (b) the financial position of any person; or

  • (c) the occupation or business of any person; or

  • (d) the identity or whereabouts of any person—

  but does not include information that is contained in a public record.

  (3) For the purposes of this section but without limiting the meaning of the term carries on any business, a person shall be deemed to carry on a business if he holds himself out to the public as being ready to carry on that business.

  (4) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1), no person is a private investigator within the meaning of this Act by reason of the fact that—

  • (a) he seeks, obtains, or supplies any information—

    • (i) for or to the Crown, or any member of the Police, or any local authority; or

    • (ii) only as a necessary, usual, or reasonable incident of any other activity by him that is not described in that subsection; or

    • (iii) for any purpose relating to the dissemination of news or other information to the public or to any section of the public; or

    • (iv) for any cultural or historical purpose or for any purpose relating to education, literature, or science; or

    • (v) in the course of and for the purposes of engaging in or carrying on any occupation or business in accordance with a practising certificate, licence, permit, or other authority, granted or issued to him under any other enactment; or

    • (vi) relating only to the person by whom he is engaged or retained; or

    • (vii) in the course of and for the purposes of the business of a bank, or of a credit bureau, or of a debt collecting agency; or

  • (b) be carries on any class of the business of a security guard.

  (5) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1), the Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, declare that a person is not a private investigator by reason only of the fact that he carries on any occupation or business described in the Order.

  Subsection (4) was substituted, as from 1 April 1979, by section 2 Private Investigators and Security Guards Amendment Act 1978 (1978 No 83).