Privacy Act 1993

2 Interpretation

• (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

  Action includes failure to act; and also includes any policy or practice

  Agency—

  • (a) Means any person or body of persons, whether corporate or unincorporate, and whether in the public sector or the private sector; and, for the avoidance of doubt, includes a Department; but

  • (b) Does not include—

    • (i) The Sovereign; or

    • (ii) The Governor-General or the Administrator of the Government; or

    • (iii) The House of Representatives; or

    • (iv) A member of Parliament in his or her official capacity; or

    • (v) The Parliamentary Service Commission; or

    • (vi) The Parliamentary Service, except in relation to personal information about any employee or former employee of that agency in his or her capacity as such an employee; or

    • (vii) In relation to its judicial functions, a court; or

    • (viii) In relation to its judicial functions, a tribunal; or

    • (ix) An Ombudsman; or

    • (x) A Royal Commission; or

    • (xi) A commission of inquiry appointed by an Order in Council made under the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1908; or

    • (xii) A commission of inquiry or board of inquiry or court of inquiry or committee of inquiry appointed, pursuant to, and not by, any provision of an Act, to inquire into a specified matter; or

    • (xiii) In relation to its news activities, any news medium:

  Agency: paragraph (b)(viii) of this definition was amended, as from 3 September 1996, by section 2(1) Privacy Amendment Act 1996 (1996 No 142) by substituting the word “tribunal” for the word “Tribunal”.

  Collect does not include receipt of unsolicited information

  Commissioner means the Privacy Commissioner referred to in section 12 of this Act and appointed in accordance with section 28(1)(b) of the Crown Entities Act 2004.

  Commissioner: this definition was substituted, as from 25 January 2005, by section 200 Crown Entities Act 2004 (2004 No 115).

  Complaints Review Tribunal or Tribunal

  [Repealed]

  Complaints Review Tribunal or Tribunal: this definition was substituted, as from 3 September 1996, by section 2(2) Privacy Amendment Act 1996 (1996 No 142).

  Complaints Review Tribunal: this definition was repealed, as from 1 January 2002, by section 71(1) Human Rights Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 96).

  Correct, in relation to personal information, means to alter that information by way of correction, deletion, or addition; and correction has a corresponding meaning

  Department means a Government Department named in Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Ombudsmen Act 1975

  Deputy Commissioner means the Deputy Privacy Commissioner appointed under section 15 of this Act

  Director of Human Rights Proceedings means the Director of Human Rights Proceedings or alternate Director of Human Rights Proceedings appointed under section 20A of the Human Rights Act 1993.

  Director of Human Rights Proceedings: this definition was inserted, as from 1 January 2002, by section 71(1) Human Rights Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 96).

  Document means a document in any form; and includes—

  • (a) Any writing on any material:

  • (b) Any information recorded or stored by means of any tape-recorder, computer, or other device; and any material subsequently derived from information so recorded or stored:

  • (c) Any label, marking, or other writing that identifies or describes any thing of which it forms part, or to which it is attached by any means:

  • (d) Any book, map, plan, graph, or drawing:

  • (e) Any photograph, film, negative, tape, or other device in which one or more visual images are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other equipment) of being reproduced:

  Enactment means any provision of—

  • (a) Any Act of Parliament; or

  • (b) Any regulations within the meaning of the Regulations (Disallowance) Act 1989 made by Order in Council:

  Human Rights Review Tribunal or Tribunal means the Human Rights Review Tribunal continued by section 93 of the Human Rights Act 1993

  Human Rights Review Tribunal or Tribunal: this definition was inserted, as from 1 January 2002, by section 71(1) Human Rights Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 96).

  Individual means a natural person, other than a deceased natural person

  Individual concerned, in relation to personal information, means the individual to whom the information relates

  Information matching programme has the meaning given to it by section 97 of this Act

  Information privacy principle or principle means any of the information privacy principles set out in section 6 of this Act

  Information privacy request has the meaning given to it by section 33 of this Act

  Intelligence organisation means—

  • (a) The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service; and

  • (b) The Government Communications Security Bureau:

  International organisation means any organisation of States or Governments of States or any organ or agency of any such organisation; and includes the Commonwealth Secretariat

  Local authority—

  • (a) Means a local authority or public body named or specified in Schedule 1 to the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987; and

  • (b) Includes—

    • (i) Any committee or subcommittee or standing committee or special committee or joint standing committee or joint special committee which the local authority is empowered to appoint under its standing orders or rules of procedure or under any enactment or Order in Council constituting the local authority or regulating its proceedings; and

    • (ii) A committee of the whole local authority:

  Minister means a Minister of the Crown in his or her official capacity

  News activity means—

  • (a) The gathering of news, or the preparation or compiling of articles or programmes of or concerning news, observations on news, or current affairs, for the purposes of dissemination to the public or any section of the public:

  • (b) The dissemination, to the public or any section of the public, of any article or programme of or concerning—

    • (i) News:

    • (ii) Observations on news:

    • (iii) Current affairs:

  News medium means any agency whose business, or part of whose business, consists of a news activity; but, in relation to principles 6 and 7, does not include Radio New Zealand Limited or Television New Zealand Limited

  News medium: this definition was amended, as from 1 December 1995, by section 20 Radio New Zealand Act 1995 (1995 No 52) by substituting the words “Radio New Zealand Limited, The Radio Company Limited, or” for the words “Radio New Zealand Limited or”. See regulation 2 Radio New Zealand Act Commencement Order 1995 (SR 1995/226).

  News medium: this definition was further amended, as from 5 July 1996, by section 2 Radio New Zealand Act (No 2) 1995 (1995 No 53) by substituting the words “Radio New Zealand Limited or” for the words “Radio New Zealand Limited, The Radio Company Limited, or”. See clause 2 Radio New Zealand Act (No 2) Commencement Order 1996 (SR 1996/182).

  Ombudsman means an Ombudsman appointed under the Ombudsmen Act 1975

  Organisation—

  • (a) Means—

    • (i) An organisation named in Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Ombudsmen Act 1975; and

    • (ii) An organisation named in Schedule 1 to the Official Information Act 1982; and

  • (b) Includes—

    • (i) The Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives:

    • (ii) An intelligence organisation:

  Permanent resident of New Zealand means a person who—

  • (a) Resides in New Zealand; and

  • (b) Is not—

    • (i) A person to whom section 7 of the Immigration Act 1987 applies; or

    • (ii) A person obliged, by or pursuant to that Act, to leave New Zealand immediately or within a specified time; or

    • (iii) Deemed for the purposes of that Act to be in New Zealand unlawfully:

  Personal information means information about an identifiable individual; and includes information relating to a death that is maintained by the Registrar-General pursuant to the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 1995, or any former Act

  Proceedings Commissioner

  [Repealed]

  Proceedings Commissioner: this definition was substituted, as from 3 September 1996, by section 2(4) Privacy Amendment Act 1996 (1996 No 142).

  Proceedings Commissioner: this definition was repealed, as from 1 January 2002, by section 71(1) Human Rights Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 96).

  Public register has the meaning given to it in section 58 of this Act

  Public register privacy principle has the meaning given to it in section 58 of this Act

  Public sector agency—

  • (a) Means an agency that is a Minister, a Department, an organisation, or a local authority; and

  • (b) Includes any agency that is an unincorporated body (being a board, council, committee, or other body)—

    • (i) Which is established for the purpose of assisting or advising, or performing functions connected with, any public sector agency within the meaning of paragraph (a) of this definition; and

    • (ii) Which is so established in accordance with the provisions of any enactment or by any such public sector agency:

  Publicly available information means personal information that is contained in a publicly available publication

  Publicly available publication means a magazine, book, newspaper, or other publication that is or will be generally available to members of the public; and includes a public register

  Responsible Minister means the Minister of Justice

  Statutory officer means a person—

  • (a) Holding or performing the duties of an office established by an enactment; or

  • (b) Performing duties expressly conferred on that person by virtue of that person's office by an enactment:

  Unique identifier means an identifier—

  • (a) That is assigned to an individual by an agency for the purposes of the operations of the agency; and

  • (b) That uniquely identifies that individual in relation to that agency;—

  but, for the avoidance of doubt, does not include an individual's name used to identify that individual

  Working day means any day of the week other than—

  • (a) Saturday, Sunday, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Anzac Day, Labour Day, the Sovereign's birthday, and Waitangi Day; and

  • (b) A day in the period commencing with the 25th day of December in any year and ending with the 15th day of January in the following year.

  (2) For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that the fact that any body (being a commission of inquiry or board of inquiry or court of inquiry or committee of inquiry appointed, by any provision of an Act, to inquire into a specified matter) is not excluded from the definition of the term agency in subsection (1) of this section by virtue of subparagraph (xii) of paragraph (b) of that definition does not mean that such a body is not excluded from that definition by virtue of subparagraph (vii) or subparagraph (viii) of that paragraph.

  Compare: 1982 No 156 s 2; 1983 No 83 s 2; 1985 No 128 s 71(3); 1987 No 8 s 2; 1987 No 174 s 2

  Personal information: this definition was substituted, as from 3 September 1996, by section 2(3) Privacy Amendment Act 1996 (1996 No 142).

  Section 2 personal information: amended, on 24 January 2009, by section 47 of the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 48).