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Privacy Act 2020

Complaints, investigations, and proceedings - Investigations by Commissioner

83: Exploring possibility of settlement and assurance during investigation

You could also call this:

“Commissioner can seek agreements or promises during investigations to resolve issues”

When someone makes a complaint, the Commissioner can try to help solve the problem at any time during the investigation. They can do this in two ways. First, they can try their best to get everyone to agree on a solution. Second, if it’s appropriate, they can try to get a promise from the agency that caused the problem. This promise would be that the agency won’t do the same thing again, or anything similar that could cause another complaint.

Sometimes, the Commissioner might start an investigation on their own, without someone making a complaint. In these cases, the Commissioner can also try to get a promise from the agency they’re investigating. This promise would be that the agency won’t repeat the action that led to the investigation, or do anything similar.

The Commissioner will always try their hardest to make these agreements or get these promises. This helps to fix problems and stop them from happening again in the future.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS142384.

Topics:
Rights and equality > Privacy
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“Commissioner can decide how to conduct investigations within legal limits”

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Part 5 Complaints, investigations, and proceedings
Investigations by Commissioner

83Exploring possibility of settlement and assurance during investigation

  1. At any time during an investigation of a complaint, the Commissioner may decide to use best endeavours to—

  2. secure a settlement of the complaint; and
    1. if appropriate, secure a satisfactory assurance from the agency whose action is the subject of the complaint that there will not be a repetition of the action that gave rise to the complaint, or of any similar kind of action.

      1. At any time during an investigation being conducted on the Commissioner’s own initiative, the Commissioner may decide to use best endeavours to secure a satisfactory assurance from the respondent that there will not be a repetition of the action that gave rise to the investigation, or of a similar kind of action.

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