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Privacy Act 2020

Complaints, investigations, and proceedings - Complaints

75: Referral of complaint to another person

You could also call this:

"The Privacy Commissioner can send your complaint to a better-suited official"

If you make a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner, they might think that someone else should handle it instead. This could happen if your complaint is about something that another official is better at dealing with.

The Commissioner might decide that your complaint should go to one of these people:

  • An Ombudsman
  • The Health and Disability Commissioner
  • The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security
  • The Independent Police Conduct Authority
  • The boss of the Customer and Product Data Act 2025

If this happens, the Commissioner will talk to the person they think should handle your complaint. They will decide the best way to deal with it.

If the Commissioner decides that someone else should look at your complaint, they will send it to that person as soon as they can. They might send the whole complaint or just part of it.

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 It might be out of date or be missing some parts.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=LMS23449.

Topics:
Rights and equality > Privacy
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"The Privacy Commissioner can refuse to look into your complaint for various reasons"

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76: Referral of complaint to overseas privacy enforcement authority, or

"Sending your privacy complaint to another country if it's about something that happened there"

Part 5Complaints, investigations, and proceedings
Complaints

75Referral of complaint to another person

  1. This section applies if, after receiving a complaint, the Commissioner considers that the complaint relates, in whole or in part, to a matter that is more properly within the jurisdiction of any of the following persons:

  2. an Ombudsman:
    1. the Health and Disability Commissioner:
      1. the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security:
        1. the Independent Police Conduct Authority:
          1. the chief executive within the meaning of section 5 of the Customer and Product Data Act 2025.

            1. The Commissioner must—

            2. consult the person specified in subsection (1) who the Commissioner considers has jurisdiction to deal with the complaint; and
              1. decide the appropriate means of dealing with the complaint.

                1. If the Commissioner decides that the complaint should be dealt with, in whole or in part, by a person specified in subsection (1), the Commissioner must, as soon as practicable, refer the complaint, or the appropriate part of the complaint, to that person.

                Compare
                Notes
                • Section 75(1)(e): inserted, on , by section 150 of the Customer and Product Data Act 2025 (2025 No 14).