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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 won't say if they have your personal information or not"

Illustration for Privacy Act 2020

When you ask an agency for your personal information, they might not tell you if they have it or not. They can do this if they can use certain rules, like section 49(1)(a)(i) or (d), 51, 52, or 53(c), to refuse to give you the information. They also have to think that telling you if they have the information or not might hurt the reason they are not giving it to you.

If an agency decides not to tell you if they have your personal information, they have to tell you that you can complain to the Commissioner about their decision. They have to do this when they respond to your request for information, as stated in section 44(2)(d). You have the right to make a complaint to the Commissioner if you are not happy with the agency's response.

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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
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46: Decision to refuse access to personal information, or

"When an agency says no to giving you your personal information"

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48: Extension of time limits, or

"Agencies can take a bit more time to answer your request for personal information if it's complicated"

Part 4Access 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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