Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

 Plain Language Law homepage
Back to
176: Relationship between this subpart and other law relating to information disclosure
or “How this part relates to other laws about sharing information”
You could also call this:

“This section explains key terms used in the law regarding information matching and actions agencies can take”

In this part of the law and in Schedule 6, there are some important terms you need to understand:

An ‘adverse action’ is something an agency might do that could negatively affect you. This could include stopping or changing your payments, making you pay money back, giving you a penalty, looking into whether you’ve committed a crime, or even deporting you from New Zealand.

An ‘authorised information matching programme’ is when the law allows agencies to compare information about people.

A ‘discrepancy’ is when an information matching programme finds something that needs to be looked into further.

An ‘information matching programme’ is when agencies compare information about 10 or more people to see if they should take adverse action against someone.

An ‘information matching provision’ is a specific part of a law listed in Schedule 5 that allows information matching.

‘Information matching rules’ are the rules set out in Schedule 6 that agencies must follow when matching information.

A ‘monetary payment’ includes benefits, lump sum payments, special assistance from the government, and payments for accidents under the Accident Compensation Act 2001.

These definitions help you understand what these terms mean when you see them in the law.

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 It might be out of date or be missing some parts.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

Next up: 178: Information matching agreements

or “Rules for agencies sharing your personal information with each other”
Next

Part 7 Sharing, accessing, and matching personal information
Authorised information matching programmes

177Interpretation

  1. In this subpart and Schedule 6, unless the context otherwise requires,—

    adverse action means any lawful action of an agency that may adversely affect the rights, benefits, privileges, obligations, or interests of any specific individual, including any decision—

    1. to cancel or suspend any monetary payment:
      1. to refuse an application for a monetary payment:
        1. to alter the rate or amount of a monetary payment:
          1. to recover an overpayment of a monetary payment:
            1. to impose a penalty:
              1. to recover a penalty or fine:
                1. to make an assessment of the amount of any tax, levy, or other charge, or of any contribution, that is payable by an individual, or to alter an assessment of that kind:
                  1. to investigate the possible commission of an offence:
                    1. to make a deportation order in relation to the individual, to serve the individual with a deportation liability notice, or to deport the individual from New Zealand

                      authorised information matching programme means an information matching programme that is authorised by an information matching provision

                        discrepancy, in relation to an authorised information matching programme, means a result of that programme that warrants the taking of further action by an agency for the purpose of giving effect to the objective of the programme

                          information matching programme means the comparison (whether manually or by means of any electronic or other device) of any document that contains personal information about 10 or more individuals with 1 or more other documents that contain personal information about 10 or more individuals, for the purpose of producing or verifying information that may be used for the purpose of taking adverse action against an identifiable individual

                            information matching provision means any provision specified in the second column of Schedule 5 as an information matching provision of an enactment specified in the first column of that schedule

                              information matching rules means the rules for the time being set out in Schedule 6

                                monetary payment includes—

                                1. a benefit as defined in Schedule 2 of the Social Security Act 2018:
                                  1. a lump sum payable under section 90 of that Act:
                                    1. any special assistance granted out of a Crown Bank Account from money appropriated by Parliament under section 101 of that Act:
                                      1. any monetary entitlement payable under Part 4, 10, or 11 of the Accident Compensation Act 2001.

                                      Compare