Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Privacy Act 2020

Information privacy principles and codes of practice - Codes of practice

38: Effect of codes of practice

You could also call this:

"Following the rules in a code of practice helps you obey the law and avoid breaking privacy rules."

Illustration for Privacy Act 2020

If a code of practice is in force, you are treated as not breaking an Information Privacy Principle (IPP) if you follow the code, even if your action would otherwise be a breach. You must comply with the code to avoid breaching an IPP. If you do not comply with the code, you may be treated as breaching an IPP, for the purposes of Part 5.

If you fail to comply with the code, it can be treated as a breach of an IPP, even if it would not normally be a breach. You should be aware that following the code is important to avoid breaching an IPP. The code's rules apply for the purposes of Part 5.

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 It might be out of date or be missing some parts.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

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=LMS23374.

Topics:
Rights and equality > Privacy
Previous

37: Amendment and revocation of codes of practice, or

"Changing or cancelling rules that protect your private information"

Next

39: Interpretation, or

"What special words mean in this part of the law"

Part 3Information privacy principles and codes of practice
Codes of practice

38Effect of codes of practice

  1. If a code of practice is in force,—

  2. any action that would otherwise be a breach of an IPP is, for the purposes of Part 5, treated as not breaching that IPP if the action complies with the code; and
    1. failure to comply with the code, even if the failure would not otherwise be a breach of any IPP, is, for the purposes of Part 5, treated as a breach of an IPP.

      Compare