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75: Referral of complaint to another person
or “When the Privacy Commissioner may send your complaint to another authority”

You could also call this:

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

If you make a complaint about privacy, sometimes it might be about something that happened in another country. When this happens, the Privacy Commissioner in New Zealand might think that someone in that other country would be better at dealing with your complaint.

If the Commissioner thinks this is the case, they will talk to the person in charge of privacy in that other country. They will also talk to you about it. The Commissioner will then decide the best way to handle your complaint.

If the Commissioner decides that the other country’s privacy person should deal with your complaint, or part of it, they will check if you and the other country’s privacy person are okay with this. If everyone agrees, the Commissioner can send your complaint, or the part that applies, to the other country’s privacy person to handle.

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Next up: 77: Exploring possibility of settlement and assurance without investigating complaint

or “Trying to resolve complaints before starting an investigation”

Part 5 Complaints, investigations, and proceedings
Complaints

76Referral of complaint to overseas privacy enforcement authority

  1. This section applies if, on 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 an overseas privacy enforcement authority.

  2. As soon as practicable, the Commissioner may—

  3. consult the overseas privacy enforcement authority and the complainant; 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 the overseas privacy enforcement authority and both the authority and the complainant agree, the Commissioner may refer the complaint, or the appropriate part of the complaint, to the authority.

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