Parliament (Powers and Privileges) Act

Defines terms used in the Act, including 'clerk', 'committee', 'court', 'journals', 'member', 'officer of Parliament', 'police officer', 'precincts of Parliament', 'Speaker', 'standing orders' and 'stranger'.

Members are exempt from civil or criminal proceedings for words spoken in, or reports to, Parliament or a committee, and for matters brought by them in Parliament or a committee.

Members of Parliament are exempt from arrest for civil debt while going to, attending, or returning from sittings of Parliament or committees, except for debts whose contraction amounts to a criminal offence.

Processes issued by any court exercising civil jurisdiction must not be served or executed within the precincts of Parliament while Parliament is sitting or through the Speaker, the clerk or any officer of Parliament.

No stranger has a right to enter or remain within the precincts of Parliament.

The Speaker may issue orders regulating admission of strangers to Parliament; the clerk must authenticate and exhibit copies of those orders, which then count as sufficient notice to affected persons.

The Speaker may at any time order any stranger to withdraw from the precincts of Parliament.

The Speaker may direct the clerk to issue a warrant to apprehend a person who fails to attend after summons (if satisfied the summons was served or service was wilfully avoided); such a warrant is to be executed by a police officer; the Speaker may also order an endorsement allowing release on recognisance.

Witnesses may be examined on oath

If a person ordered to give evidence or produce documents refuses on grounds of privacy, the Speaker may either excuse them or order that they answer or produce the documents; a committee chairperson may report such a refusal to the Speaker.

People summoned to give evidence or produce documents before Parliament or its committees are entitled to the same rights or privileges as they have before a court of law.

Members, officers of Parliament, and persons employed to take minutes of evidence must not give evidence elsewhere about minutes, documents, or proceedings without first obtaining Parliament's special leave; the Speaker or, when absent or during dissolution, the clerk may grant that leave during a recess or adjournment.

Questions about evidence and production of documents before Parliament or a committee are to be determined in accordance with the usage of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Parliament or any sessional committee may order a person to attend, give evidence, or produce documents, subject to sections 13 and 15; other committees may exercise those powers if specially authorised by a resolution of Parliament in respect of specified matters.

Summons are used to notify a person required to give evidence or produce documents; the summons must be under the hand of the clerk issued by direction of the Speaker.

Proceedings before Parliament or a committee where a person gives evidence or produces documents are to be treated as judicial proceedings for the purposes of sections 94, 99, 101 and 102 of the Penal Code Act.

Prohibits strangers from entering or remaining in the precincts of Parliament or otherwise contravening Speaker orders regulating admittance, and from attending as a journal representative after permission has been revoked.

Any person who engages in any of the listed acts regarding Parliament or its committees commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding four thousand shillings or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or both.

Any member who accepts, agrees to accept, obtains or attempts to obtain any bribe, fee, compensation, reward or benefit in relation to speaking, voting or acting (or refraining from so doing) commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding four thousand shillings or to imprisonment for two years or both.

A copy of the Journals of the Commons House of Parliament printed (or purporting to be printed) by the order or printer of the Commons House shall be received as prima facie evidence in inquiries touching parliamentary privileges, immunities and powers or those of any member of Parliament.

Copies of the journals printed or purporting to be printed by the Government Printer shall be admitted as evidence without proof in all courts and places.

Anyone who prints or causes to be printed a purported official copy of an Act or parliamentary papers, or who tenders such a copy in evidence knowing it is not so printed, commits an offence punishable by up to three years' imprisonment.

A defendant may, after giving twenty-four hours written notice and presenting a Speaker's certificate and affidavit, bring those documents before the court; the court must immediately stay the proceedings and they will be deemed finally determined.

In civil proceedings about reports or extracts of Parliament, if the court finds the publication was bona fide and without malice, the court must enter judgment for the defendant.

The Speaker and any officer of Parliament must not be subject to court jurisdiction when exercising powers conferred or vested in them by or under this Act.

Every officer of Parliament is granted the powers and privileges of a police officer for the purposes of this Act and the application of the criminal law.

An officer of Parliament may arrest without a warrant persons who commit certain offences in their presence or whom they reasonably suspect of committing or about to commit those offences within Parliament precincts.

No prosecution for an offence under this Act may be instituted except with the written sanction of the Director of Public Prosecutions.