Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Privacy Act 2020

Miscellaneous provisions - General

205: Protection against certain actions

You could also call this:

“Protection for those who give you your personal information when you ask for it”

If someone makes your personal information available to you in good faith when you ask for it, they are protected from legal trouble. This means no one can take them to court or punish them for giving you the information or for what happens because they gave it to you. Also, if the information came from someone else originally, that person can’t be taken to court either.

When you get your personal information after asking for it, it doesn’t mean you have permission to share it with others. If you do share it, you might still get in trouble for things like spreading rumours, breaking promises to keep secrets, or copying someone else’s work without permission.

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 It might be out of date or be missing some parts.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

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS23687.

Topics:
Rights and equality > Privacy
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“Commissioner can seek court's opinion on privacy law interpretation”

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206: Commissioner and staff to maintain secrecy, or

“Privacy Commissioner and staff must keep work information confidential”

Part 9 Miscellaneous provisions
General

205Protection against certain actions

  1. If any personal information is made available in good faith under IPP 6,—

  2. no proceedings, civil or criminal, may be brought against the Crown or any other person in respect of the making available of that information, or in respect of any consequences that follow from the making available of that information; and
    1. no proceedings, civil or criminal, in respect of any publication involved in, or resulting from, the making available of that information may be brought against the author of the information or any other person by reason of that author or other person having supplied the information to an agency.

      1. The making available of, or the giving of access to, any personal information in consequence of a request made under IPP 6 is not to be taken, for the purposes of the law relating to defamation or breach of confidence or infringement of copyright, to constitute an authorisation or approval of the publication of the information or of its contents by the individual to whom the information is made available or the access is given.

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