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Intelligence and Security Act 2017

Accessing information held by other agencies - Obtaining business records of telecommunications network operators and financial service providers - Issue of business records direction

150: Director-General of intelligence and security agency may issue business records direction

You could also call this:

"Spy boss can ask businesses for certain records to help keep New Zealand safe"

Illustration for Intelligence and Security Act 2017

The Director-General of an intelligence and security agency can give a direction to a business to provide certain records. You might wonder what kind of records they can ask for - it could be specific records about a person or thing, or a whole group of records about a person or thing. The Director-General can only ask for records they are allowed to have under a current approval. They must also follow any rules or limits that come with that approval, and make sure they are only asking for what is necessary to do their job.

Before giving a direction, the Director-General must be sure they are asking for the right amount of records. They need to think about whether getting these records will help them do their job. The Director-General can ask for records about a person, or about a thing - and a thing can be something like a phone number, bank account number, or even an internet address. The approval they have must still be valid, which means it has not expired.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM7119012.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Police and safetyRights and equality > Privacy
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149: Amendment and revocation of approvals, or

"Changing or cancelling approvals for spying and what happens next"

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151: Compliance with business records direction, or

"Follow the rules when you get a notice to share your business records"

Part 5Accessing information held by other agencies
Obtaining business records of telecommunications network operators and financial service providers: Issue of business records direction

150Director-General of intelligence and security agency may issue business records direction

  1. The Director-General of an intelligence and security agency who has been granted an approval may issue a business records direction in writing to a named business agency requiring that agency to provide to the Director-General copies of—

  2. specified business records relating to an identifiable person or thing:
    1. any specified class of business records relating to an identifiable person or thing.

      1. A business records direction may be issued by a Director-General only—

      2. in respect of business records, or a class of business records, that the Director-General may obtain under a current approval; and
        1. in the circumstances stated in the approval; and
          1. in accordance with any restrictions or conditions stated in the approval.

            1. Before issuing a business records direction, the Director-General of an intelligence and security agency must be satisfied that the extent of business records required to be provided under that direction is justified and is no more than is necessary to enable the performance of the agency’s functions.

            2. In this section,—

              current approval means an approval that has not expired

                thing includes—

                1. a number (for example, a telephone number, bank account number, or credit card number); and
                  1. an address (for example, an Internet protocol address).