Privacy Commissioner, Office of the
Te Mana Matapono Matatapu
ACTS ADMINISTERED
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner was established under the Privacy Act 1993 and the Privacy Commissioner has certain functions set out under section 13 of that Act.
FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The Privacy Commissioner is responsible for promoting and protecting individual privacy in accordance with the information privacy principles and the public register privacy principles in the Privacy Act 1993. The official functions of the Commissioner include:
- To promote, by education and publicity an understanding and acceptance of the information privacy principles and of the objects of those principles;
- To inquire into any matter including any enactment, practice, procedure or technical development where the privacy of an individual may be infringed;
- To undertake educational programmes and make public statements on privacy matters;
- To receive and invite representations from the public on any matter affecting the privacy of the individual;
- To monitor developments in data processing and computer technology;
- To report to the Prime Minister on any matter affecting the privacy of an individual;
- To investigate and conciliate in complaints of an interference with the privacy of an individual;
- To monitor the use of unique identifiers, and to report to the Prime Minister;
- To examine any proposed legislation or Government policy that the Commissioner considers may affect the privacy of individuals, and in particular where information collected by a public sector agency might be used for an information matching programme;
- To issue codes of practice for specific industries, agencies, or types of personal information.
STRUCTURE
Staff are employed by the Privacy Commissioner in the Auckland and Wellington offices.
The Assistant Commissioner has responsibility for work on codes of practice, legislation, data matching and policy matters, and a team has been established to focus on privacy issues associated with technology. The Assistant Commissioner (Legal) has responsibility for communications, education and enquiries functions, and contributes to complaints work. The Assistant Commissioner (Investigations) has responsibility for complaints and investigations functions and manages teams of Investigating Officers in both offices. In addition, the Commissioner has a Senior Legal and Communications Adviser reporting directly to her. The General Manager has administrative and managerial responsibility for both offices. Administrative support staff are employed in each office.
RECORDS
Information is held on standard paper files and electronically in an electronic Document Records Management System. Categories include:
- Administration/office
- Agencies
- Information matching
- Policy/Legislation
- Topic (various)
- Complaints
- Enquiries
- Educational Initiatives.
Statistical information about privacy complaints and enquiries is available from the Privacy Commissioner’s website: www.privacy.org.nz. Also available are documents relating to decision-making processes.
CONTACT
Wellington
Office of the Privacy Commissioner
Level 4, Gen-i Tower
109-111 Featherston Street
PO Box 10094
WELLINGTON
Phone: (04) 474 7590
Fax: (04) 474 7595
Website: www.privacy.org.nz
Email: enquiries@privacy.org.nz
Auckland
Office of the Privacy Commissioner
Level 13, Gosling Chapman Tower
51-53 Shortland Street
AUCKLAND
PO Box 466
Phone: (09) 302 8680
Fax: (09) 302 2305
Website: www.privacy.org.nz
Email: enquiries@privacy.org.
