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New Zealand law explained for everyone

Privacy Act 2020

Privacy Commissioner - Functions of Privacy Commissioner

21: Commissioner to have regard to certain matters

You could also call this:

“Commissioner must balance privacy with other important factors when making decisions”

When you do your job, you need to think about many things. You must care about people’s privacy, but also think about other important rights and needs. This means you should try to help information flow freely in society, and let the government and businesses do their work well.

You also need to remember New Zealand’s promises to other countries, especially about how we use technology to communicate. It’s important to think about how different cultures view privacy too.

You should pay attention to new guidelines from around the world that help protect people’s privacy better. And don’t forget about the Information Privacy Principles - they’re very important in your work.

Remember, your job is to balance all these things while you’re doing your work and making decisions.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS23333.

Topics:
Rights and equality > Privacy
Government and voting > Government departments
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“Privacy Commissioner must work independently when making decisions”

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22: Information privacy principles, or

“Rules for how organisations must handle personal information”

Part 2 Privacy Commissioner
Functions of Privacy Commissioner

21Commissioner to have regard to certain matters

  1. The Commissioner must, in performing any statutory function or duty, and in exercising any statutory power,—

  2. have regard to the privacy interests of individuals alongside other human rights and interests, including—
    1. the desirability of facilitating the free flow of information in society; and
      1. government and businesses being able to achieve their objectives efficiently; and
      2. take account of international obligations accepted by New Zealand, including those concerning the international technology of communications; and
        1. take account of cultural perspectives on privacy; and
          1. consider any developing general international guidelines relevant to the better protection of individual privacy; and
            1. have regard to the IPPs.

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