Under the Customs and Excise Act 2018, which recently came into force, officials are able to demand travellers unlock any electronic device so it can be searched.
Travellers entering New Zealand who refuse to disclose passwords for their digital devices during forced searches could face prosecution and fines of up to NZ$5,000 (US$3,286).
Under the Customs and Excise Act 2018, which recently came into force, officials are able to demand travellers unlock any electronic device so it can be searched.
Anyone who refuses can face prosecution. The law also gives agents the authority to copy any data on searched devices.
“We’re not aware of any other country that has legislated for the potential of a penalty to be applied if people do not divulge their passwords,” Customs spokesman Terry Brown told The New York Times.
Brown said that the agents would search phones while they were in flight mode, and their search would not include data stored in the cloud.
Customs officers will be able to search any device that an officer ‘has reasonable cause to suspect’.
The New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties described the new law as a ‘grave invasion of personal privacy’.
The ABC reported that in New Zealand — as in many other countries — Customs officers can seize devices for forensic examination if they were believed to contain evidence of criminal activity.
But the law did not previously require travellers to open their devices for inspection, either by entering a password or using biometric data such as thumbprints or facial scans.