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[email address] | www.justice.govt.nz
25 May 2023
J. A. Harris
[FYI request #22010 email]
Our ref: OIA 103076
Tēnā koe J. A. Harris
Official Information Act request: Section 78B of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957
Thank you for your email of 6 March 2023, requesting, under the Official Information Act
1982 (the Act), information regarding applications to dispute that a fine has been filed in
court under section 78B of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957 (78B applications).
Specifically, you requested:
Please provide information on the number of Section 78B applications (application
received since 1 Jan 2018 to date. In particular, please include the following data
points so analysis can be undertaken, and conclusions drawn.
-
reason for 78B application
-
result of 78B application
-
indicate whether (and the number of multiple 78Bs) made for the same matter
prosecuting or enforcing authority to as much detail as possible (e.g. a particular
Police region or function) number of 78B applications which proceeded to
collection number of 78B applications which proceeded to defended hearing and
outcome of (e.g. number guilty/not guilty after defended hearing) number of 78B
applications which proceeded to defended hearing but were withdrawn by the
prosecuting authority number of 78B applications which proceeded to defended
hearing but were tossed out by the court
Please provide data on the time or person-hours and costs incurred/required/used to
process these 78B applications.
Please provide information on any and all internal processes, policies, guidelines, or
other documents followed or referred to by MOJ staff or Court staff (including
registrars, judges, clerks etc) in considering a 78B application.
Please provide information on any general advice or feedback given by MOJ or Courts
to prosecuting authorities around 78B applications.
Please provide information on any efforts or initiatives undertaken within MOJ or
Courts, or in partnership with prosecuting agencies, to reduce or manage the number
of 78B applications or improve the agencies processes in order to avoid 78B
applications.
Your request has been referred to me for response, as it falls within my responsibilities as
Group Manager for National Service Delivery and is being managed in accordance with the
provisions of the Act.
On 14 March 2023, the Ministry of Justice (the Ministry) contacted you to clarify your
request. As part of this clarification, the Ministry requested that you provide a clearer
explanation or alternative wording for the part of your request regarding the outcomes of 78B
applications where the application was defended, withdrawn by the prosecuting authority, or
were dismissed by the court.
Further, the Ministry requested confirmation from you as to whether our interpretation that
your request regarding the number of 78B applications that proceed to col ection, was for the
number of applications that are unsuccessful and remain with the court collections unit, or, to
please specify what you are requesting if our interpretation was incorrect.
Finally, we separated the last paragraph of your request and asked for your confirmation that
we had interpreted the remainder of your request correctly. This is as follows:
- number of 78B applications which proceeded to a defended hearing and the outcome
of the hearing
- number of 78B applications which proceeded to defended hearing but were
withdrawn by the prosecuting authority
- number of 78B applications which proceeded to defended hearing but were
dismissed by the court
On the 14 March 2023, you responded to the Ministry and confirmed that our interpretations
as above, were correct and that you were happy to proceed. In line with s15A(1)(a) of the
Act, your clarified request, becomes a new request for the purposes of the Act and therefore
resets the statutory timeframe for responding.
On 3 April 2023, the Ministry contacted you to advise that the timeframe for responding to
your request would need to be extended, under section 15A of the Act, as there was a
significant amount of information within scope that needed to be consulted on and prepared
for release.
In response to your request, please refer to Table 1. Table 1 contains the number of 78B
applications received between January 2018 and February 2023 by calendar year, reason of
application, and result of application. Please note that this information has been drawn from
our operational database and may be subject to change as the latest information is entered
or recorded.
Under section 18(f) of the Act, I am refusing the following part of your request, on the
grounds that the information would require substantial collation and research:
- number of 78B applications which proceeded to defended hearing and outcome of
(e.g., number guilty/not guilty after defended hearing)
- number of 78B applications which proceeded to defended hearing but were
withdrawn by the prosecuting authority
- number of 78b applications which proceeded to defended hearing but were
dismissed by the court
Please refer to Table 2 for the average number of full-time equivalent (FTE) persons
allocated to the processing of 78B applications by calendar year, between 1 January 2018
and 20 March 2023. Please note, that the Ministry is unable to break down this cost further
as the costs of processing 78B applications are not recorded separately. Therefore, I am
refusing this part of your request under section 18(e) of the Act, on the grounds that the
information does not exist or cannot be found.
As part of the Ministry’s internal processes, we do maintain some training resources,
policies, and guidelines for staff relating to processing and decision making for 78B
applications. However, this is considered judicial information, and therefore, this part of your
request is refused under section 18 (g)(i) of the Act as the information requested is not held
by the Ministry and I have no grounds for believing it is held by another agency or Minister.
We have interpreted the following part of your request as a request for information held by
the Ministry on wider initiatives and feedback provided to prosecuting authorities since 2018,
rather than a request for feedback or information on specific applications:
-
Please provide information on any general advice or feedback given by MOJ or
Courts to prosecuting authorities around 78B applications.
-
Please provide information on any efforts or initiatives undertaken within MOJ or
Courts, or in partnership with prosecuting agencies, to reduce or manage the number
of 78B applications or improve the agencies processes in order to avoid 78B
applications.
In response, I can advise that the Ministry has not undertaken any work in these areas.
Therefore, I am refusing this part of your request under section 18(e) of the Act on the
grounds that the information does not exist.
If you require any further information, please contact Media & Social Media Manager Joe
Locke at [email address]
Please note that this response, with your personal details removed, may be published on the
Ministry website at: justice.govt.nz/about/official-information-act-requests/oia-responses/
If you are not satisfied with this response, you have the right to make a complaint to the
Of ice of the Ombudsman under section 28(3) of the Act. The Office of the Ombudsman may
be contacted by email to [email address] or by phone on 0800 802 602.
Nāku noa, nā
Tracey Baguley
Group Manager, National Service Delivery
Table 1: Number of 78B applications received between January 2018 and February 2023 by calendar year, broken down by reason for application, 1982
and result of application
Reason for 78B application
Application outcome
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
ACT
Granted - Hearing
0
0
0
1
0
0
The applicant complied with the
Granted - Rehearing
0
0
0
0
1
0
instructions given by the Issuing
Granted - Reissue Reminder Notice
448
318
212
227
130
13
Authority and let the Issuing Authority Granted - Withdrawn
49
52
56
126
136
20
know they had complied
Pending Consent
0
1
1
2
12
18
Refused
387
408
329
319
425
73
Granted - Hearing
5
12
4
3
3
0
Granted - Other
0
0
1
0
0
0
The applicant asked for a hearing prior Granted - Rehearing
5
2
3
3
5
0
INFORMATION
to the infringement being filed with the Granted - Reissue Reminder Notice
41
81
69
48
42
3
court, but did not get a response
Granted - Withdrawn
21
17
6
16
24
5
Pending Consent
0
0
0
0
1
0
Refused
178
201
161
170
136
26
The Issuing Authority requested for the Granted - Withdrawn
3,365
4,631
4,742
3,840
3,635
599
fine to be withdrawn
Refused
1
3
19
4
4
0
OFFICIAL
Granted - Hearing
0
1
5
0
1
0
Granted - Reissue Hearing Notice
0
0
3
0
0
0
Granted - Reissue Reminder Notice
1,274
1,557
972
638
557
45
THE
The applicant’s identity was mistaken Granted - Withdrawn
327
358
341
387
650
104
Pending Consent
0
1
3
7
63
25
Refused
2,500
2,378
1,831
943
1,394
107
Granted - Hearing
0
1
0
0
0
0
UNDER
The applicant asked the Issuing
Granted - Rehearing
0
1
0
0
0
0
Authority for more information about
Granted - Reissue Reminder Notice
32
67
63
56
37
5
the infringement but was not provided Granted - Withdrawn
26
19
77
27
14
3
it
Pending Consent
0
0
0
0
3
4
Refused
117
197
106
94
138
23
RELEASED
Granted - Reissue Reminder Notice
1
0
2
1
4
0
1982
The applicant was given more time to
Granted - Withdrawn
0
1
1
2
0
0
ask for a hearing
Pending Consent
0
0
0
0
1
0
ACT
Refused
11
6
6
6
5
1
Granted - Hearing
0
0
0
3
1
1
Granted - Reissue Hearing Notice
3
0
0
0
0
0
The applicant did not receive a
Granted - Reissue Reminder Notice
1,685
1,768
1,497
1,321
1,382
116
reminder notice
Granted - Withdrawn
118
94
80
103
105
19
Pending Consent
1
3
3
0
14
8
Refused
2,288
2,218
1,685
2,028
1,970
226
Granted - Other
1
1
0
0
1
0
The applicant did not receive a Notice
Granted - Rehearing
2
2
0
0
0
0
of Hearing
INFORMATION
Granted - Reissue Hearing Notice
0
1
0
0
1
0
Refused
2
11
10
4
6
0
Granted - Hearing
1
0
0
0
0
0
Granted - Other
0
0
0
0
0
1
Another type of procedural error
Granted - Rehearing
2
5
1
0
1
0
occurred in the process of the fine
Granted - Reissue Reminder Notice
229
352
272
255
271
11
being sent to court
OFFICIAL
Granted - Withdrawn
142
104
112
125
173
24
Pending Consent
1
1
0
0
9
2
Refused
505
467
482
385
611
44
THE
Granted - Reissue Reminder Notice
145
146
129
74
99
14
The applicant paid the Issuing
Granted - Withdrawn
62
39
41
41
56
16
Authority on time
Pending Consent
1
0
0
1
2
4
Refused
505
555
419
349
490
50
Total
14,481
16,080
13,744
11,609
12,613
1,610
UNDER
RELEASED
Notes for Table 1:
-
This data counts al applications’ outcomes under section 78B of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957 from 1 January 2018 to 28 February 2023, with
the exception where the issuing authority has requested the application to be withdrawn.
ACT 1982
-
The year recorded is when the outcome of the application is lodged.
-
The 2023 calendar year only includes the months of January and February, due to the availability of the recorded data in March 2023.
-
Statistics are based on the Courts Case Management System as of 28 March 2023. Please note the data has been drawn from our operational
database and may be subject to change as new data is entered or recoded.
-
The application outcome “Granted – Withdrawn” indicates that the prosecuting authority has requested to withdraw the fine from court in response to
the 78B application.
-
The application outcome “Granted – Reissue Reminder Notice” is used when a Registrar grants a 78B application. This removes the infringement
from court and instructs the issuing authority to reissue the reminder notice.
INFORMATION
-
The application outcome “Refused” is used when a Registrar declines a 78B application.
-
Any of the other application outcomes are only used when a hearing is directed by a Judge as the result of a s106F application to review a deputy
registrar’s decision.
-
‘Pending Consent’ is when the application is sent to the prosecuting authority (PA) for their consent or opposition. If no response is received from the
PA within 28 days, the deputy registrar wil assess the application and make a decision.
RELEASED UNDER THE OFFICIAL
Table 2: Average number of full-time equivalent (FTE) persons allocated to the processing of 78B applications by calendar year, between
1982
1 January 2018 and 28 February 2023
Calendar year
Average number of FTE persons
ACT
2018
2.22
2019
3
2020
2.07
2021
2.11
2022
2.6
2023*
3.19
Notes for Table 2:
INFORMATION
- One FTE person is an equivalent to one full-time worker (40-hour work week), which can vary dependent on the volume of applications received.
- The 2023 calendar year only includes the months of January and February, due to the availability of the recorded data in March 2023.
OFFICIAL
THE
UNDER
RELEASED
