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New Zealand law explained for everyone

Privacy Act 2020

Miscellaneous provisions - General

205: Protection against certain actions

You could also call this:

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

Illustration for Privacy Act 2020

If you share personal information in good faith under IPP 6, you are protected. You cannot be taken to court for sharing the information or for anything that happens because of it. You are also protected if you write or supply the information and someone else shares it.

When you ask to see personal information under IPP 6, getting access to it does not mean the person it is about agrees with what it says. It also does not mean they agree to it being shared with others. This is important for laws about saying bad things about people, keeping secrets, or copying things without permission.

You can look at this link to compare with a similar law from 1993.

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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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204: Powers relating to declaratory judgments, or

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

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206: Commissioner and staff to maintain secrecy, or

"People who work with the Privacy Commissioner must keep secrets about the information they learn."

Part 9Miscellaneous 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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