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Customs and Excise Act 2018

Administrative provisions - Disclosure of information - Disclosure to government agencies

312: Direct access to information for purposes of Student Loan Scheme Act 2011

You could also call this:

"Checking student loan information when people enter or leave New Zealand"

Illustration for Customs and Excise Act 2018

The Inland Revenue Department needs to check some information about people who have student loans. You are a borrower if you have a student loan, as defined in section 4(1) of the Student Loan Scheme Act 2011. The department wants to know if you live in New Zealand or overseas, and if you are a New Zealand resident.

The chief executive of Customs can let the Commissioner access a database to find this information. The Commissioner can only look for information about people who have student loans and are entering or leaving New Zealand.

The Commissioner must make sure that only certain people can access the database, and that they keep a record of who accesses it and why. A borrower is in serious default if they have not paid their student loan and meet certain criteria set by the Commissioner, which includes having an unpaid amount as defined in section 5 of the Student Loan Scheme Act 2011.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM7039731.

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Part 5Administrative provisions
Disclosure of information: Disclosure to government agencies

312Direct access to information for purposes of Student Loan Scheme Act 2011

  1. The purpose of this section is to facilitate access by the Inland Revenue Department to information stored in a database for the purpose of assisting the Commissioner to—

  2. verify whether borrowers are New Zealand-based or overseas-based for the purposes of the Student Loan Scheme Act 2011:
    1. verify whether borrowers are New Zealand residents for the purposes of that Act:
      1. verify whether borrowers are in New Zealand for the purposes of that Act:
        1. locate, when they enter or leave New Zealand, borrowers who are in serious default in relation to a student loan.

          1. The chief executive of Customs may, for the purpose of this section, allow the Commissioner to access a database in accordance with a written agreement entered into by the chief executive and the Commissioner.

          2. In accessing a database for the purpose of this section, the Commissioner may search only for arrival and departure information relating to preselected borrowers who are of interest to the Commissioner.

          3. The Commissioner must take all reasonable steps to ensure that—

          4. only persons with appropriate powers delegated to them by the Commissioner—
            1. have access to the database; and
              1. use the database; and
              2. a record is kept of—
                1. every occasion on which persons access a database; and
                  1. the reason for accessing the database; and
                    1. the identity of the person who accessed the database; and
                    2. every person who accesses a database for the purpose of this section complies with subsection (3).

                      1. In this section,—

                        borrower has the meaning given to it by section 4(1) of the Student Loan Scheme Act 2011

                          serious default means the state of having an unpaid amount due and owing under the Student Loan Scheme Act 2011 and satisfying criteria that are established in a manner to be determined by the Commissioner

                            unpaid amount has the meaning given to that term in section 5 of the Student Loan Scheme Act 2011.

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