Evidence Act 2006

Admissibility rules, privilege, and confidentiality - Privilege and confidentiality - Privilege

65: Waiver

You could also call this:

"Giving up a secret or private information that you're allowed to keep"

If you have a privilege, you can give it up. You can do this by clearly saying so or by doing something that shows you do not want to keep the privilege. You give up your privilege if you choose to share important parts of a private conversation, information, or document with others when you are not supposed to. This can happen when you share something that is meant to be confidential.

If you do something that makes your private conversation or document a part of a court case, you give up your privilege. This also happens if you start a court case against someone who has your private conversation or document, and this makes the private matter part of the court case.

If someone else gets your private conversation or document by accident or without your permission, you do not give up your privilege. However, there are some special cases, like when people are trying to settle a dispute, where all the people involved must agree to give up their privilege, as stated in section 57.

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This page was last updated on 29 June 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM393677.

Topics:

Crime and justice > Courts and legal help

64: Informers, or

"People who secretly tell police about crimes without wanting their name shared"

66: Joint and successive interests in privileged material, or

"Protecting shared secrets in court: what happens when someone with a secret dies or shares it with others"

Part 2Admissibility rules, privilege, and confidentiality
Privilege and confidentiality: Privilege

65Waiver

A person who has a privilege conferred by any of sections 54 to 60 and 64 may waive that privilege either expressly or impliedly.
A person who has a privilege waives the privilege if that person, or anyone with the authority of that person, voluntarily produces or discloses, or consents to the production or disclosure of, any significant part of the privileged communication, information, opinion, or document in circumstances that are inconsistent with a claim of confidentiality.
A person who has a privilege waives the privilege if the person—
acts so as to put the privileged communication, information, opinion, or document in issue in a proceeding; or
institutes a civil proceeding against a person who is in possession of the privileged communication, information, opinion, or document the effect of which is to put the privileged matter in issue in the proceeding.

A person who has a privilege in respect of a communication, information, opinion, or document that has been disclosed to another person does not waive the privilege if the disclosure occurred involuntarily or mistakenly or otherwise without the consent of the person who has the privilege.
A privilege conferred by section 57 (which relates to settlement negotiations or mediation) may be waived only by all the persons who have that privilege.