About OPC

A family walks on a leafy trail. They are all turned away from the camera. A woman on the left has red hair, a long beige cardigan, and brown boots. A smal child holds her hand and they are wearing a tshirt, shorts and a blue hat. Their old hand is held by an adult man wearing a grey tshirt and jeans. He has short dark hair and a beard. The Privacy Commissioner is New Zealand’s privacy regulator. We have a wide range of functions, which are listed in section 17 of the Privacy Act 2020.

Our goal is to achieve high levels of voluntary compliance but to also be open about how we approach regulatory and compliance activities.

We use our compliance tools predictably, proportionately, consistently and judiciously. We will select the best tools for the job by considering the extent or risk of harm to individuals, the public interest/benefit, the attitude to compliance and the conduct of the individual or agency.

At the same time, we will promote compliance with the law by identifying and celebrating best practice and sharing lessons learnt to support agencies and individuals to build their privacy capability.

Kōtuitui

Increasingly, we are taking account of Te Ao Māori perspectives on privacy. Te Ranga Tautiaki our Māori reference panel assists us to do that.

We will be increasingly expected to have a strong understanding and capabilities related to Te Tiriti, tikanga Māori and Te Ao Māori.
We will be expected to respond to ensure we realise the value Mātauranga Māori can bring to our thinking.
The Tiriti principle of active protection will mean that we must ensure awareness of privacy rights and confidence to exercise them.
Co-design and co-delivery between Māori organisations and the public sector is increasingly expected
Rapid technological advances are increasingly raising questions and challenges for privacy and the protection of taonga, of tapu, and of mana.

About New Zealand’s privacy laws

The Privacy Act and the rights it enables applies to almost every person, business, and organisation in New Zealand regardless of their age or circumstance. The Act includes privacy principles that guide how personal information can be collected, used, stored and disclosed.

The Act mainly governs personal information about individual people, but the Privacy Commissioner can also consider developments that affect personal privacy more widely. Separately, the courts have developed a privacy tort, which is the right for one person to sue another for breach of privacy (e.g. Hosking v Runting). Many other statutes set out specific rules to protect privacy or confidentiality in particular situations.

Other statutes or other rules allow personal information to be shared.

For example, personal information on the electoral roll is publicly available. The Act generally exempts news media when they are gathering and reporting news. The New Zealand Media Council is an independent forum that hears privacy complaints about the press and digital media platforms.

The Broadcasting Standards Authority hears privacy complaints about broadcast (e.g. radio and television) material.

We cannot investigate courts or tribunals carrying out their judicial functions

The Privacy Act 2020 came into force on 1 December 2020.