Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Privacy Act 2020

Access to and correction of personal information - Access to personal information

47: Decision to neither confirm nor deny personal information is held

You could also call this:

“When an agency may choose not to say if they have your information”

You can ask an agency for your personal information. Sometimes, the agency might decide not to tell you if they have your information or not. They can do this if they could refuse to give you the information for certain reasons, like protecting someone’s safety or following the law. The agency can only do this if telling you they have the information might cause problems.

If an agency decides not to tell you if they have your information, they must let you know that you can complain to the Privacy Commissioner about their decision. The Privacy Commissioner is a person who helps make sure agencies follow the rules about personal information.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS131559.

Topics:
Rights and equality > Privacy
Government and voting > Government departments
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46: Decision to refuse access to personal information, or

“When an agency can refuse to give you your personal information”

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48: Extension of time limits, or

“Agencies can ask for more time to respond to your information request”

Part 4 Access to and correction of personal information
Access to personal information

47Decision to neither confirm nor deny personal information is held

  1. An agency may neither confirm nor deny that it holds the personal information, or some of the personal information, requested if the agency—

  2. is able to rely on section 49(1)(a)(i) or (d), 51, 52, or 53(c) to refuse to disclose the information or refuse to disclose the information if it existed; and
    1. is satisfied that the interest protected by any of those provisions would be likely to be prejudiced by the agency confirming whether or not it holds information about the requestor.

      1. The notice given under section 44(2)(d) must inform the requestor of the requestor’s right to make a complaint to the Commissioner in respect of the agency’s response.

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