Section 365 — Companies Act 1993: Registrar's powers of inspection

365 Registrar's powers of inspection (1) The Registrar or a person authorised by the Registrar may,— (a) For the purpose of— (i) Ascertaining whether a company or a director of a company is complying, or has complied, with this Act or the Financial Reporting Act 1993 ; or (ii) Ascertaining whether the Registrar should exercise any of his or her rights or powers under this Act or the Financial Reporting Act 1993 ; or (iii) Detecting offences against this Act or the Financial Reporting Act 1993 ; and (b) If, in the Registrar's opinion, it is in the public interest to do so,—

do any of the following: (c) Require a person, including a person carrying on the business of banking, to produce for inspection relevant documents within that person's possession or control; or (d) Inspect and take copies of relevant documents; or (e) Take possession of relevant documents and remove them from the place where they are kept, and retain them for a reasonable time, for the purpose of taking copies; or (f) Retain relevant documents for a period which is, in all the circumstances reasonable, if there are reasonable grounds for believing that they are evidence of the commission of an offence. (2) Nothing in this section limits or affects the Tax Administration Act 1994 or the Statistics Act 1975 . (3) The Registrar or a person authorised by the Registrar must consult with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand before exercising any of the powers conferred by subsection (1) of this section if the purpose of exercising the power relates to a company that is a registered bank (within the meaning of section 2 of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989 ). (4) A person must not obstruct or hinder the Registrar or a person authorised by the Registrar while exercising a power conferred by subsection (1) of this section. (5) Any person who— (a) Fails to comply with a requirement under subsection (1)(c) of this section; or (b) Acts in contravention of subsection (4) of this section— commits an offence and is liable on conviction to the penalty set out in section 373(2) of this Act. (6) In this section,— Company includes an overseas company Relevant document , in relation to a company, means a document that contains information relating to— (a) The company; or (b) Money or other property that is, or has been, managed, supervised, controlled or held in trust by or for the company. Compare: 1955 No 63 s 9A; 1983 No 53 s 3 Subsection (2) was amended, as from 1 April 1995, by section YB 1 Income Tax Act 1994 (1994 No 164) by substituting the words “ Tax Administration Act 1994 ” for the words “ Inland Revenue Department Act 1974 ” . Subsection (5)(b) was amended, as from 1 July 1994, by section 44 Companies Act 1993 Amendment Act 1994 (1994 No 6) by substituting the expression “ (4) ” for the expression “ (3) ” .