This Act may be cited as the Extradition Act 1965.

This Act shall come into force on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and sixty-six.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

For the purposes of this Act, the expression “extradition offence”, in relation to any foreign country, shall also include any act or omission which, if it occurred in New Zealand, would be one of the crimes of—

and which amounts to one of the offences described in the extradition treaty with that country and is punishable in that country.

For the purposes of this Act, any vessel or aircraft recognised by the law of any country as belonging to that country shall be deemed to be within the jurisdiction of and to be part of that country.

Where a treaty has been concluded (whether before or after the commencement of this Act) between New Zealand and any foreign country in respect of the surrender of offenders, the Governor-General may by Order in Council apply this Act to that foreign country.

Every such Order in Council shall recite the terms of the treaty, and shall cease to have effect when the treaty ceases to be in force.

Where by virtue of any such Order in Council this Act applies to any foreign country, the treaty shall be read subject to subsections (1) to (6) of section 5 of this Act.

Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, this Act shall be read subject to the terms of the treaty and shall be so construed as to give effect to the treaty.

While any such Order in Council continues to have effect it shall be conclusive evidence of the terms of the treaty and of the fact that this Act applies to the foreign country.

Subject to the provisions of this Act, where this Act applies to any foreign country, every offender of that country who is in New Zealand shall be liable to be arrested and surrendered in the manner provided by this Act, whether the act or omission in respect of which the surrender is sought occurred before or after the commencement of this Act or, as the case may be, before or after its application to that country, and whether or not any New Zealand Court has jurisdiction in respect of that act or omission.

An offender shall not be surrendered to a foreign country—

An offender shall not be surrendered to a foreign country unless provision is made by the law of that country, or by the extradition treaty, that the offender will not, until he has left or has had an opportunity of leaving the foreign country, be detained or tried in that country for any offence committed before his surrender other than an extradition offence disclosed by the facts on which the surrender is grounded.

An offender who has been acquitted, on account of his insanity, of any offence within the jurisdiction of New Zealand, and who, consequent on such acquittal, is detained in any institution under section 31 of the Mental Health Act 1911, shall not be surrendered until in accordance with law he ceases to be so detained.

An offender who has been convicted of any offence within the jurisdiction of New Zealand, and who, consequent on his conviction, is detained in a penal institution or detained under section 38 of the Mental Health Act 1911, shall not be surrendered until in accordance with law he ceases to be so detained.

Where, in any case to which subsection (3) or subsection (4) of this section does not apply, an offender has been accused of an offence within the jurisdiction of New Zealand, not being the offence for which his surrender is requested, he shall not be surrendered until the proceedings against him have been disposed of.

An offender shall not be surrendered until after the expiration of fifteen days from the date of his being committed to custody to await his surrender or, in any case where a writ of habeas corpus is issued, until after the Supreme Court has decided, on the return to the writ, that he is not to be discharged from custody, whichever event last happens.

In every extradition treaty made between New Zealand and a foreign country after the commencement of this Act provision shall be made to the effect that the Minister may in his discretion refuse to surrender an offender who is a New Zealand citizen.

Every request for the surrender of an offender who is in or suspected of being in New Zealand shall be made to the Minister of External Affairs, for transmission to the Minister of Justice,—

Where a request is so made, the Minister of Justice may, by writing, notify a Magistrate that it has been made and request him to issue a warrant for the arrest of the offender.

If the Minister of Justice is of opinion that the offence to which any request under subsection (1) of this section relates is one of a political character, he may if he thinks fit refuse to notify a Magistrate as aforesaid, and may also at any time order an offender accused or convicted of the offence to be discharged from custody.

A warrant for the arrest of an offender who is in or suspected of being in New Zealand may be issued—

Any Magistrate or Justice who issues a warrant under this section without a request from the Minister to do so shall forthwith report the issue of it to the Minister and send to him a certified copy of any foreign warrant or other documentary evidence so produced and a note of any other evidence so produced.

On receipt of the report the Minister may if he thinks fit order the cancellation of the warrant and the discharge of the person arrested thereon.

Every offender arrested on a warrant issued under this section shall, unless he is sooner discharged, be brought before a Court as soon as practicable.

Subject to the provisions of this Act, when an offender is brought before a Court under this Act, the Court shall hear the case in the same manner, and have the same jurisdiction and powers, as if the proceedings were the preliminary hearing of an information for an indictable offence alleged to have been committed by the offender in New Zealand, and the provisions of Part V of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957 shall apply, so far as they are applicable and with the necessary modifications.

Where the offender has been arrested on a warrant issued by a Magistrate or Justice without a request from the Minister, the following provisions shall apply:

The offender shall not in any case be bailable as of right or allowed to go at large without bail.

The provisions of sections 32, 34, and 35 of the Mental Health Act 1911 shall apply, so far as they are applicable and with all necessary modifications.

A warrant issued in the foreign country and authorising the arrest of the offender, or a copy of the warrant, shall be produced at the hearing.

At the hearing the Court shall receive any evidence tendered by or on behalf of the offender to show—

For the purposes of paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of this section, the Court may receive such evidence as in its opinion may assist it in determining the truth, whether or not such evidence is otherwise legally admissible in a Court of law.

Nothing in this section shall limit the power of the Court to receive any other evidence that may be tendered to show that the offender should not be surrendered.

On hearing the case the Court shall order the committal of the offender to a penal institution, to remain there until he is surrendered to the foreign country or discharged according to law, if—

If such evidence as aforesaid is not produced the Court shall discharge the offender.

Where the Court commits the offender to a penal institution as aforesaid, it shall—

Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1) of this section, where the Court commits the offender to a penal institution a Judge of the Supreme Court may in his discretion, on application and on such terms and subject to such conditions as he thinks fit, grant bail to the offender.

Subject to the provisions of this Act, after the expiration of fifteen days from the date of the offender’s being committed to a penal institution as aforesaid, or, in any case where a writ of habeas corpus is issued, after the Supreme Court has decided, on the return to the writ, that he is not to be discharged from custody (whichever event last happens), the Minister may order that the offender be surrendered to the person who in the opinion of the Minister is duly authorised to receive him in the name and on behalf of the foreign country seeking his surrender, for the purpose of his being taken to that country.

Any person to whom any such order is directed may take the offender into custody and deliver him to the person specified in the order, and the person so specified may receive the offender, hold him in custody, and convey him to the foreign country, to be dealt with there according to law.

Until the offender is conveyed out of New Zealand, he shall be deemed for the purposes of section 41 of the Penal Institutions Act 1954 to be a person committed to an institution.

If an offender who has been committed to a penal institution under section 10 of this Act is not surrendered and conveyed out of New Zealand within two months—

whichever period last expires, a Judge of the Supreme Court may, on application and on proof that reasonable notice of the intention to make the application has been given to the Minister, order the offender to be discharged, unless sufficient cause is shown against such discharge.

Where a person accused or convicted of an offence in New Zealand is in or suspected of being in any foreign country with which there is an extradition treaty applicable to that offence, a request for his surrender may be made by the Minister and shall be transmitted by the Minister of External Affairs to a diplomatic or consular representative, or a Minister, of that country, or to such other authority as is prescribed in the treaty.

Where pursuant to any extradition treaty any person accused or convicted of an offence in New Zealand is surrendered by a foreign country, that person shall not, until he has left or has had an opportunity of leaving New Zealand, be detained or tried for any offence committed within the jurisdiction of New Zealand before his surrender other than an offence disclosed by the facts on which the surrender is grounded.

Depositions taken outside New Zealand, whether taken in the absence of the offender or otherwise, and copies thereof, and official certificates of or judicial documents stating the fact of conviction or other facts, given or made out of New Zealand, may, if duly authenticated, be received in evidence in any proceedings under this Act.

For the purposes of section 13 of this Act, a Magistrate may, in the absence of the person accused of an offence to which that section relates, take depositions in the same manner, so far as applicable, as if that person were present and the proceedings were the preliminary hearing of an information for an indictable offence; and for the purpose of taking any such depositions the Magistrate shall have the same jurisdiction and powers as if the proceedings were such a hearing as aforesaid.

Nothing in this Act shall authorise the reception of any such depositions, copies, certificates, or documents in evidence against any person on his trial for any offence.

For the purposes of this Act, any warrant, deposition, official certificate, or judicial document issued, taken, given, or made outside New Zealand, and any copy thereof, shall be deemed to be duly authenticated if it is authenticated in the manner for the time being provided by the law of New Zealand in respect of documents executed out of New Zealand, or if it purports—

Every Court shall take judicial notice of every such signature or seal as aforesaid.

The Governor-General may from time to time by Order in Council make regulations for all or any of the following purposes:

Whereas in accordance with Article 46 of the Constitution of the Cook Islands (as set out in the Schedule to the Cook Islands Constitution Act 1964) the Government of the Cook Islands has requested and consented to the enactment of a provision extending the provisions of this Act to the Cook Islands as part of the law of the Cook Islands: Be it therefore enacted as follows:

The Cook Islands Act 1915 is hereby amended by inserting, after section 349, the following heading and section:

The First Schedule to the Cook Islands Amendment Act 1964 is hereby amended by adding, in the appropriate columns thereof, the following words:

Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit or affect the operation of any of the provisions of the Aliens Act 1948 or the Immigration Act 1964 relating to deportation, or of Part XV of the Shipping and Seamen Act 1952.

The following enactments are hereby repealed, namely:

As from the commencement of this Act, the enactments of the United Kingdom Parliament specified in the Second Schedule to this Act shall cease to have effect as part of the law of New Zealand.

As from the commencement of this Act, the New Zealand Extradition Order 1941, made on the fifth day of August, nineteen hundred and forty-one, by His Majesty by Order in Council under the Extradition Act 1870, shall cease to have effect as part of the law of New Zealand.

Subject to the provisions of this Act, it is hereby declared that the provisions of sections 20, 20a, and 21 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1924 (as amended by the Acts Interpretation Amendment Act 1960 and the Acts Interpretation Amendment Act 1962) shall apply with respect to the enactments and Order in Council referred to in subsections (2) and (3) of this section as if those enactments were Acts of the General Assembly of New Zealand.

Every Order in Council made under the provisions of the Extradition Acts 1870 to 1935 of the United Kingdom Parliament and applicable to New Zealand immediately before the commencement of this Act shall, until it ceases to have effect in New Zealand by virtue of an Order in Council made under this Act, continue to have effect for the purposes of this Act as if it had been made thereunder. The Governor-General may, by any Order in Council made under this Act or any subsequent Order in Council, declare that any such first-mentioned Order in Council shall cease to have effect as part of the law of New Zealand, and every such declaration shall have effect accordingly.