Explanatory note

This note is not part of the order, but is intended to indicate its general effect.

This order brings Part 2 of the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Amendment Act 2009 into force on 5 December 2011. The rest of that Act came into force on 6 September 2010.

Part 2 extends the authority to take and retain bodily samples under the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Act 1995 (the principal Act). Under the amendment,—

• the threshold for requesting a bodily sample from a suspect is lowered so that it covers any offence punishable by a term of imprisonment or described in Part 3 of the Schedule of the principal Act, rather than an indictable offence:

• the threshold for seeking a compulsion order is similarly lowered:

• various applications that were formerly made under the principal Act to the High Court have to be made to a District Court.