New Zealand Legislation: Acts
Acts are laws made by Parliament
(1) If a Medical Officer of Health has reason to believe that any person is or is likely to become dependent on any controlled drug, he may, for the purpose of preventing or restricting the supply of controlled drugs to that person, or of assisting in the cure or mitigation or avoidance of the dependence of that person, publish statements relating to that person to all or any of the members of all or any of the classes of persons set out in subsection (3).
(2) Every statement made under subsection (1) shall be privileged unless the publication is proved to be made with malice.
(3) The classes of persons referred to in subsection (1) are as follows:
(a) employees of any district health board established by or under the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000:
(aa) [Repealed]
(b) a hospital care operator within the meaning of section 58(4) of the Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001:
(c) managers of prisons within the meaning of the Corrections Act 2004:
(d) managers and superintendents of institutions within the meaning of the Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Act 1966:
(e) medical practitioners:
(f) dentists:
(fa) midwives:
(fb) designated prescribers:
(g) Police employees:
(h) persons who deal in controlled drugs in the course of business.
(4) Nothing in subsection (1) or subsection (2) shall limit or affect any right or duty which a Medical Officer of Health may otherwise possess to publish a statement to any person.
(5) Every person commits an offence against this Act who, except in the course of duty as a member of a class set out in subsection (3) or as an officer or servant of the Crown, publishes any information obtained, whether by him or any other person, from a statement made pursuant to subsection (1), or any comment on any such statement.
Compare: 1965 No 45 s 20
Section 20(3)(a): substituted, on 1 January 2001, by section 111(1) of the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000 (2000 No 91).
Section 20(3)(aa): repealed, on 1 July 1993, by section 32 of the Health Reforms (Transitional Provisions) Act 1993 (1993 No 23).
Section 20(3)(b): substituted, on 1 October 2002, by section 58(1) of the Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001 (2001 No 93).
Section 20(3)(c): substituted, on 1 June 2005, by section 206 of the Corrections Act 2004 (2004 No 50).
Section 20(3)(fa): inserted, on 28 August 1990, by section 15 of the Nurses Amendment Act 1990 (1990 No 107).
Section 20(3)(fa): amended, on 18 September 2004, by section 175(1) of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (2003 No 48).
Section 20(3)(fb): inserted, on 15 October 1999, by section 16 of the Medicines Amendment Act 1999 (1999 No 117).
Section 20(3)(g): amended, on 1 October 2008, by section 130(1) of the Policing Act 2008 (2008 No 72).