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17: Functions of Commissioner
or “The Privacy Commissioner's roles in safeguarding and promoting privacy in New Zealand”
You could also call this:

“Privacy Commissioner helps assess overseas privacy protections”

The responsible Minister can ask you, the Privacy Commissioner, to do two main things:

First, the Minister can ask you to check if a binding scheme makes a foreign person or group protect personal information in a way that’s about as good as New Zealand’s Privacy Act. The Minister might ask you to do this to help decide whether to:

  1. Make new rules about the binding scheme
  2. Keep the current rules about the binding scheme as they are
  3. Change the current rules about the binding scheme
  4. Get rid of the current rules about the binding scheme
  5. Replace the current rules about the binding scheme with new ones

Second, the Minister can ask you to check if another country’s privacy laws are about as good as New Zealand’s Privacy Act. The Minister might ask you to do this to help decide whether to:

  1. Make new rules about that country
  2. Keep the current rules about that country as they are
  3. Change the current rules about that country
  4. Get rid of the current rules about that country

The Minister might also ask you if there should be any special limits or conditions put on that country when making or changing these rules.

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Next up: 19: Responsible Minister must present copy of report on operation of Act to House of Representatives

or “Minister must share Privacy Act report with Parliament”
Next

Part 2 Privacy Commissioner
Functions of Privacy Commissioner

18Other functions of Commissioner

  1. The responsible Minister may, for any of the following purposes, request the Commissioner to provide advice on whether a binding scheme requires a foreign person or entity to protect personal information in a way that, overall, provides comparable safeguards to those in this Act:

  2. to assist the Minister in deciding whether to recommend the making of regulations under section 213 prescribing the binding scheme:
    1. to assist the Minister in deciding whether any regulations made under section 213 prescribing the binding scheme should be—
      1. continued without amendment; or
        1. continued with amendment; or
          1. revoked; or
            1. replaced.

            2. The responsible Minister may, for the following purposes, request the Commissioner to provide advice on whether the privacy laws of a country, overall, provide comparable safeguards to those in this Act:

            3. to assist the Minister in deciding whether to recommend the making of regulations under section 214 prescribing the country:
              1. to assist the Minister in deciding whether any regulations made under section 214 prescribing the country should be—
                1. continued without amendment; or
                  1. continued with amendment; or
                    1. revoked:
                    2. to assist the Minister in deciding whether, for the purposes in paragraph (a) or (b)(i) or (ii), the country should be subject to any limitation or qualification of the kind specified in section 214(3).