Purpose 

Under section 32 of the Integrity Sport and Recreation Act 2023 (the Act), the Sport Integrity Commission Te Kahu Raunui (the Commission) has the ability to investigate matters to which neither section 31 of the Act (which covers possible breaches of the Integrity Code) or the anti-doping rules apply, if: 

• the matter is or appears to the Commission to be a threat to integrity; and 

• the Commission is satisfied that an investigation by the Commission is in the public interest. 

If it chooses to open an investigation under section 32, then the Commission will be able to exercise its powers of information gathering under section 34 of the Act with the ability to enforce those powers through the District Court in the event of a failure to comply.     

The purpose of the policy is to set out the matters that the Commission will take into account in assessing the public interest element of opening an investigation under section 32.   

Statutory criteria 

Under the Act, the Commission must take into account: 

• the severity of the potential threat to integrity and whether the threat appears to be ongoing; 

• the best interests of participants (including any vulnerabilities of the participants concerned); 

• whether the threat to integrity appears to be at an organisational level or concerns more than one organisation; 

• whether the matter has been, or is being, investigated by another relevant body; and 

• if the matter concerns a particular organisation, the views of the organisation and relevant participants on the need for an investigation. 

Additional criteria 

In addition, the Commission may decide to take into account the following: 

• the cost of proceeding with an investigation; 

• the availability of resources to conduct an investigation; 

• the need to clarify an important point of law or policy; and 

• whether a decision not to commence an investigation is likely to undermine public confidence in the integrity of sport and recreation in New Zealand. 

The above list of additional criteria is not intended to be exhaustive and the Commission may also choose to take into account any other matter which it considers relevant to an assessment of public interest.