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Privacy Act 2020

Notifiable privacy breaches and compliance notices - Compliance notices - Proceedings

130: Enforcement of compliance notice

You could also call this:

“What happens if you don't follow a compliance notice”

If you don’t follow a compliance notice, the Privacy Commissioner can take action against you in the Human Rights Review Tribunal. This can happen if the time for appealing the notice has passed and you haven’t appealed. The Commissioner can do this if they think you haven’t fixed the problem or won’t fix it by the date given, or if you haven’t told them about the steps you’ve taken to fix it.

You can only object to the enforcement if you believe you’ve fully followed the notice. When the Tribunal looks at these cases, they won’t check if the notice was right to be given or if it was fair. They will only check if you’ve fully followed the notice. The Tribunal can order you to do certain things to fix the problem.

Usually, the Chairperson of the Tribunal will hear these cases alone. But if the case is more complicated, the whole Tribunal might hear it.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS23523.

Topics:
Rights and equality > Privacy
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129: Publication of details of compliance notice, or

“Commissioner can publish details about compliance notices if it's in the public interest”

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Part 6 Notifiable privacy breaches and compliance notices
Compliance notices: Proceedings

130Enforcement of compliance notice

  1. The Commissioner may take enforcement proceedings in the Tribunal—

  2. if the time for an appeal under section 131 has passed and no appeal has been lodged against a compliance notice; and
    1. if—
      1. the Commissioner has reason to believe that the agency has not remedied or will not remedy the breach (if applicable, by the date stated in the notice); or
        1. the agency has failed to report to the Commissioner on the steps taken to remedy the breach by the date stated in the notice.

        2. An agency may object to enforcement of a compliance notice only on the ground that the agency believes that the notice has been fully complied with.

        3. In proceedings under this section, the Tribunal—

        4. must not examine or make any determination about the issuing or merits of a compliance notice:
          1. may examine and make a determination about whether a compliance notice has been fully complied with:
            1. may order a remedy under section 133(1)(a).

              1. Proceedings under this section may be heard by the Chairperson sitting alone unless the Chairperson considers that, because of the issues involved, it would be more appropriate for the proceedings to be heard by the Tribunal.

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