Privacy Commissioner - Te Mana Matapono Matatapu

New Zealand Law Commission Privacy Review

In October 2006 the Law Commission commenced a review of the law of privacy.

The project involves four stages, with publications at each stage.

• Stage 1 (now complete), is a high level policy overview to assess privacy values, changes in technology, international trends, and their implications for New Zealand law.
• The Law Commission also produced a miscellaneous paper, A Conceptual Approach to Privacy
• In Stage 2 (now complete), the Law Commission considered whether the law relating to public registers requires systematic alteration as a result of privacy considerations and emerging technology.
• The Privacy Commissioner made a submission on the public register issues paper.
• In Stage 3 of the project, the Commission will consider and report on the adequacy of New Zealand’s civil and criminal law to deal with invasions of privacy.
• In Stage 4, the Commission will review the Privacy Act 1993 with a view to updating it.

 

Other Law Commission privacy resources

In addition to the review of privacy, the Law Commission has completed or is undertaking other projects touching upon aspects of privacy.

In particular, the Commission has a major project on search and surveillance powers. The Commission’s 2004 report on covert filming included recommendations to amend the Privacy Act that might may be taken forward during 2008 if a privacy amendment bill is introduced.