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Privacy Act 2020

Preliminary provisions - Interpretation and related matters

11: Personal information treated as being held by another agency in certain circumstances

You could also call this:

"When one agency holds your personal info for another, it's like the second agency has it."

Illustration for Privacy Act 2020

If you have personal information held by one agency for another agency, it is treated as being held by the second agency. You should think of it as belonging to the agency it is being held for, not the agency that actually has it. This is how it works under the Privacy Act 2020.

If the agency holding the information uses it for its own purposes, it is treated as being held by both agencies. It does not matter where the agency holding the information is located or where the information is stored.

When information is transferred between agencies, it is not considered a use or disclosure of the information, as seen in the Privacy Act 2020 and related to the Statutes Amendment Act 2022.

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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=LMS23318.

Topics:
Rights and equality > Privacy
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"Info you hold at work is your agency's responsibility"

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"What agency staff do and know is considered the agency's actions and information"

Part 1Preliminary provisions
Interpretation and related matters

11Personal information treated as being held by another agency in certain circumstances

  1. This section applies if an agency (A) holds information for or on behalf of another agency (B) (for example, the information is held by A as a representative or agent of B, or for safe custody or processing on behalf of B).

  2. For the purposes of this Act, the personal information is to be treated as being held by B, and not A.

  3. However, the personal information is to be treated as being held by A as well as B if A uses or discloses the information for its own purposes.

  4. For the purposes of this section, it does not matter whether A—

  5. is outside New Zealand; or
    1. holds the information outside New Zealand.

      1. To avoid doubt, if, under subsection (2), B is treated as holding personal information,—

      2. the transfer of the information to A by B is not a use or disclosure of the information by B; and
        1. the transfer of the information, and any information derived from the processing of that information, to B by A is not a use or disclosure of the information by A.

          Compare
          Notes
          • Section 11(1): replaced, on , by section 94 of the Statutes Amendment Act 2022 (2022 No 75).