Section 384 — Social Security Act 2018: MSD may use mutual assistance provisions to recover debts

384 MSD may use mutual assistance provisions to recover debts (1) This section applies if an order is made under section 380 in respect of a reciprocity agreement that contains a provision for the Governments of New Zealand and the other country to provide each other with assistance in the recovery of social security debts. (2) A social security debt of the other country may, under and subject to the provision and to the extent that the debt has not been recovered in the other country, be recovered by MSD under regulations made under section 444 as if it were a debt due to the Crown. (3) A certificate signed by an authorised officer of the competent institution of the other country and to the effect that the debt is of a kind that New Zealand may under the agreement provide assistance to recover is, in the absence of proof to the contrary, sufficient evidence for the purposes of subsection (2) of the existence of the debt. (4) Any amount recovered under subsection (2) is trust money for the purposes of the Public Finance Act 1989 . Compare: 1990 No 26 s 19D(1), (2)