Section 312C — Crimes Act 1961: Matters on which Judge must be satisfied in respect of applications

312C Matters on which Judge must be satisfied in respect of applications (1) On an application made in accordance with section 312B of this Act, the Judge may grant an interception warrant if the Judge is satisfied that it would be in the best interests of the administration of justice to do so, and that— (a) There are reasonable grounds for believing that— (i) There is an organised criminal enterprise; and (ii) Any member of that organised criminal enterprise is planning, participating in, or committing, or has planned, participated in, or committed, criminal offences of which at least one is a specified offence, as part of the continuing course of criminal conduct planned, organised, or undertaken by members of that enterprise; and (b) There are reasonable grounds for believing that evidence relevant to the investigation of the case will be obtained through the use of an interception device to intercept private communications; and (c) Whichever of the following is applicable: (i) Other investigative procedures and techniques have been tried but have failed to facilitate the successful conclusion of the Police investigation of the case; or (ii) Other investigative procedures and techniques are unlikely to facilitate the successful conclusion of the Police investigation of the case, or are likely to be too dangerous to adopt in the particular case; or (iii) The case is so urgent that it would be impractical to carry out the Police investigation using only investigative procedures and techniques other than the interception of private communications; and (d) The private communications to be intercepted are not likely to be privileged in proceedings in a Court of law by virtue of any of the provisions of Part 3 of the Evidence Amendment Act (No 2) 1980 or of any rule of law that confers privilege on communications of a professional character between a barrister or solicitor and a client. (2) Without limiting subsection (1) , in determining whether or not to issue an interception warrant under this section, the Judge must consider the extent to which the privacy of any person or persons would be likely to be interfered with by the interception, under the warrant, of private communications. Part 11A, comprising sections 312A to 312Q, was inserted, as from 1 August 1987, by section 4 Crimes Amendment Act (No 2) 1987 (1987 No 167). Subsection (1)(a)(ii) was amended, as from 1 February 1998, by 10(1) Crimes Amendment Act (No 2) 1997 (1997 No 93) by substituting the words “ a specified offence ” for the words “ an offence described in section 312B(1)(a) of this Act ” . Subsection (1)(b) was amended, as from 1 October 2003, by section 20 Crimes Amendment Act 2003 (2003 No 39) by substituting the words “ an interception device ” for the words “ a listening device ” . Subsection (2) was inserted, as from 1 February 1998, by section 10(2) Crimes Amendment Act (No 2) 1997 (1997 No 93).