Current project status:

The Commission released an issues paper at the beginning of March 2010, and the final report for stage 4 should be released late in 2010.

The Privacy Act is a fundamental statute that sets minimum standards for the way that New Zealander’s personal information is handled by the public and private sector agencies to which it is entrusted. The Privacy Act has not been significantly amended since it was enacted in 1993, even though there have been big changes in information handling practices and technology since that time.  In Australia, the Law Reform Commission has conducted an extensive review of Australia’s Privacy Act and recommended a raft of improvements. 

Now it is New Zealanders’ turn to have their say on how the Privacy Act can be updated and improved.

The Law Commission’s Issues Paper on Review of the Privacy Act examines the 12 information privacy principles, their definitions and exceptions and proposes a number of changes.  We also ask whether changes should be made to the Privacy Commissioner’s powers and complaints process.  The Issues Paper examines a number of key topics such as government and law enforcement information sharing, information matching, technological developments, trans-border data flows and direct marketing.:

Download the Issues Paper 'Review of the Privacy Act 1993'

Download the summary document and Questions Page

How can I find out more about this Review?

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