Public Records Act 2005

Public access - Open access records

47: Public inspection of open access records

You could also call this:

"See public records for free"

Illustration for Public Records Act 2005

You can look at open access records for free. When you ask to see a record, it must be made available as soon as possible. You can make this request to the public office, local authority, approved repository, or Archives New Zealand, depending on who has the record.

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This page was last updated on 28 October 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM345777.

Topics:

Government and voting > Government departmentsInformation and technology > Access to information

46: Basis for determining access status of local authority records, or

"How local authority records are made public or kept private"

48: Publication or copying of public archives, or

"Getting permission to use public records"

Part 3Public access
Open access records

47Public inspection of open access records

Unless this Act provides otherwise, an open access record must be made available for inspection by members of the public free of charge as soon as is reasonably practicable after a request to inspect the record is made to the public office, the local authority, the approved repository, or Archives New Zealand, whichever has possession of the open access record.