(1) Every person commits an offence who—
(a) forges a New Zealand travel document; or
(b) knowing a document to be a forged or false New Zealand travel document, without reasonable excuse,—
(i) uses, deals with, or acts upon it as if it were genuine; or
(ii) causes another person to use, deal with, or act upon it as if it were genuine; or
(c) without reasonable excuse,—
(i) has in his or her possession or under his or her control a document that he or she knows or has reason to suspect is a forged or false New Zealand travel document; or
(ii) sells, hires, lends, gives, or otherwise disposes of a document that he or she knows or has reason to suspect is a forged or false New Zealand travel document to another person; or
(d) without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, makes or uses or has in his or her possession or disposes of any paper or other material that he or she knows is specially provided by the proper authorities for any purpose relating to New Zealand travel documents.
(2) In subsection (1),—
false New Zealand travel document means a New Zealand travel document containing information purporting to relate to the person to whom it was issued (being information supplied by or on behalf of the person as part of or in connection with the person's application for the document) that—
(a) is false; or
(b) relates in fact to some other person
forges and forged have meanings corresponding to the meaning given to forgery by section 256 of the Crimes Act 1961.
(3) Every person who commits an offence against subsection (1) is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, a fine not exceeding $250,000, or both.
Section 29A: inserted, on 18 June 2002, by section 9 of the Passports Amendment Act 2002 (2002 No 24).
Section 29A(2) forges and forged: amended, on 21 April 2005, by section 25 of the Passports Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 44).