Human Rights Act 1993

Resolution of disputes about compliance with Part 1A and Part 2

79: How complaints received to be treated

You could also call this:

"What happens when you make a complaint to the Human Rights Commission"

If you make a complaint to the Commission, they will look at it. The Commission gets complaints about breaches of Part 1A or Part 2. You can find Part 1A and Part 2 in the Human Rights Act 1993. If your complaint is about a law or something a law says must be done, the Commission will only look at it as a complaint about the law breaching Part 1A. The Commission will not look at complaints about court judgments or orders. You can read more about the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 in section 3. If your complaint is about something someone did, and it is not about a law or a court judgment, the Commission will look at it. They will decide if it is a breach of Part 1A or Part 2. You can find Part 1A and Part 2 in the Human Rights Act 1993. The Commission can ask anyone they think is appropriate to help them look at complaints. They can also help resolve disputes.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM304685.

This page was last updated on 13 December 2025 — View changes

Topics:

Rights and equality > Anti-discriminationCrime and justice > Victim support

78: Method of providing services, or

"How you can get help and services"

79A: Choice of procedures, or

"Picking which law to use if you have a work problem"

Part 3Resolution of disputes about compliance with Part 1A and Part 2

79How complaints received to be treated

This section applies if the Commission receives, under section 76(2)(a), a complaint alleging that there has been a breach of Part 1A or Part 2 or both Parts.
If the complaint or part of it concerns an enactment, or an act or omission that is authorised or required by an enactment, the complaint or relevant part of it must be treated only as a complaint that the enactment is in breach of Part 1A.
Despite every other provision of this section, if the complaint or part of it concerns a judgment or other order of a court, or an act or omission of a court affecting the conduct of any proceedings, the Commission must take no further action in relation to the complaint or relevant part of it.
If the complaint or part of it concerns an act or omission by a person or body referred to in section 3 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, and neither subsection (2) nor subsection (3) applies, the complaint or relevant part of it—
must be treated only as a complaint that there is a breach of Part 1A, unless the act or omission complained of involves conduct that—
1. is unlawful under any of sections 22, 23, 61 to 63, and 66; or
2. is unlawful under any of sections 65 and 67 to 74, but only to the extent that those sections relate to conduct that is unlawful under any provision referred to in subparagraph (i):
must be treated only as a complaint that there has been a breach of the relevant provision or provisions of Part 2 if the act or omission complained of involves conduct that is unlawful under any of sections 22, 23, 61 to 63, and 66.

If the complaint or relevant part of it concerns a breach of Part 2, and none of subsections (2) to (4) applies to the complaint or relevant part of it, the complaint or relevant part of it must be treated only as a complaint that there has been a breach of the relevant provision or provisions of Part 2.
Nothing in this section prevents the Commission from involving any person that it considers appropriate in information gathering and the resolution of disputes.

Notes

Section 79: substituted, on 1 January 2002, by section 9 of the Human Rights Amendment Act 2001 (2001 No 96).