Legal Services Amendment Regulations 2015

2015/224

Coat of Arms of New Zealand

Legal Services Amendment Regulations 2015

Jerry Mateparae, Governor-General

Order in Council

At Wellington this 28th day of September 2015

Present:
The Hon Bill English presiding in Council

Pursuant to section 114(1)(o)(ii) of the Legal Services Act 2011, His Excellency the Governor-General makes the following regulations, acting—

(a)

on the advice and with the consent of the Executive Council; and

(b)

on the advice of the Minister of Justice, the Minister being satisfied that the exemption under these regulations is justified on 1 or more of the following grounds:

(i)

the exemption is in the public interest:

(ii)

the exemption facilitates access to justice:

(iii)

the exemption is just and equitable in the circumstances.

Regulations

1 Title

These regulations are the Legal Services Amendment Regulations 2015.

2 Commencement

These regulations come into force on 1 November 2015.

3 Principal regulations

These regulations amend the Legal Services Regulations 2011 (the principal regulations).

4 New regulation 9B inserted (Exemption from user charge for proceedings relating to historical abuse)

After regulation 9A, insert:

9B Exemption from user charge for proceedings relating to historical abuse

(1)

The following proceedings are exempt from the user charge payable under section 18A of the Act:

(a)

the proceedings described in subclause (2); and

(b)

any appeals made in connection with those proceedings.

(2)

The proceedings referred to in subclause (1)(a) are proceedings commenced by an aided person against the Crown in respect of an incident, or an alleged incident, that—

(a)

occurred before 1 July 1993; and

(b)

involved the abuse (whether physical, sexual, or psychological) or ill-treatment of the aided person; and

(c)

occurred while the aided person—

(i)

had a disability or was under 18; and

(ii)

was in the care of the Crown.

(3)

In this regulation,—

care of the Crown means care provided under the direction or supervision of a specified agency in—

(a)

a psychiatric hospital; or

(b)

a hospital care institution as defined in section 58(4) of the Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001; or

(c)

an institution as defined in section 2 of the Child Welfare Act 1925; or

(d)

a residence as defined in section 2(1) of the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989; or

(e)

a residential special school; or

(f)

any other place—

(i)

defined or referred to in a repealed enactment and carrying a similar meaning to a place described in paragraphs (a) to (e); or

(ii)

that is otherwise closely associated with, or similar to, a place described in paragraphs (a) to (e)

disability has the meaning given in section 21(1)(h) of the Human Rights Act 1993

psychiatric hospital means a hospital within the meaning of section 2(1) of the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992

residential special school means a special school established under section 98(1) of the Education Act 1964 that has a boarding facility for students attending the school

specified agency means—

(a)

the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social Development; and

(b)

any former government department that exercised substantially the same functions as a Ministry specified in paragraph (a) but operated under a different name; and

(c)

a board of trustees constituted under Part 9 of the Education Act 1989; and

(d)

any of the following whose liabilities have since been transferred to the Crown under section 28(d) of the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Amendment Act 2012:

(i)

a hospital board:

(ii)

an area health board:

(iii)

any other organisation.

Michael Webster,
Clerk of the Executive Council.

Explanatory note

This note is not part of the regulations, but is intended to indicate their general effect.

These regulations, which come into force on 1 November 2015, amend the Legal Services Regulations 2011. The regulations exempt historical abuse claimants in proceedings against the Crown from the user charge of $43.48, which is otherwise payable by every person granted legal aid for a civil matter. To qualify for the exemption, a person’s claim must relate to an incident that occurred before 1 July 1993 while the person was in the care of the Crown.

Issued under the authority of the Legislation Act 2012.

Date of notification in Gazette: 1 October 2015.

These regulations are administered by the Ministry of Justice.