Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Privacy Act 2020

Miscellaneous provisions - General

204: Powers relating to declaratory judgments

You could also call this:

"The Commissioner and Director can ask the court to make a decision to clarify a situation."

Illustration for Privacy Act 2020

The Commissioner can send a matter to the Director if they think it would be good to get a declaratory judgment from the High Court. You can think of a declaratory judgment as a court decision that helps clarify a situation. The Commissioner does this under the Declaratory Judgments Act 1908.

If the Director gets a matter sent to them, they have the right to start court proceedings under the Declaratory Judgments Act 1908. This means the Director can take the matter to court to get a decision. The Director can do this even if the Declaratory Judgments Act 1908 or other laws say otherwise.

The Director can start court proceedings whether or not the matter is part of their usual job under this Act or the Human Rights Act 1993. You can find more information about the Human Rights Act 1993 on the New Zealand legislation website. The Director's ability to start court proceedings applies in any case.

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 It might be out of date or be missing some parts.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=LMS23686.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Courts and legal helpRights and equality > Anti-discrimination
Previous

203: Inquiries, or

"The Commissioner must follow specific rules when conducting inquiries"

Next

205: Protection against certain actions, or

"You're protected if you share personal info in a good way"

Part 9Miscellaneous provisions
General

204Powers relating to declaratory judgments

  1. If, at any time, it appears to the Commissioner that it may be desirable to obtain a declaratory judgment or an order of the High Court in accordance with the Declaratory Judgments Act 1908, the Commissioner may refer the matter to the Director for the purpose of deciding whether proceedings under that Act should be instituted.

  2. If a matter is referred to the Director under subsection (1), the Director has sufficient standing to institute proceedings under the Declaratory Judgments Act 1908.

  3. Subsection (2) applies—

  4. despite anything to the contrary in the Declaratory Judgments Act 1908, or any other enactment or rule of law; and
    1. whether or not the matter is within the Director’s functions and powers under this Act or the Human Rights Act 1993.

      Compare