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Privacy Act 2020 guidelines : Contents

Request for personal information from another government agency

Some government agencies have powers to obtain certain types of information from the Ministry of Social Development by way of a production order obtained from the Court or by way of some other statutory authority. These powers can override the Privacy Act 2020.

A production order is a document the Police or a person authorised under the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 can obtain from the Court. It compels a person, including a person in their role as a representative of the Ministry of Social Development, to give to the Police or authorised person the information they require. Details of the information requested, the grounds on which the order is made and how and when to provide the information must be set out in the production order.

When the Police or another government agency makes a request for information under some other statutory authority, they should provide the following:

  • the request in writing, including details of the information they are requesting
  • details of the statutory authority they have for obtaining the information, and a description of how their statutory authority applies in the circumstance
  • the name, contact details and role of the person in the agency making the request

Common examples of statutory authority are:

  • Oranga Tamariki or Police asking for information for child protection purposes under section 66 of the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989
  • Inland Revenue, under section 17B of the Tax Administration Act 1994
  • Ministry of Justice, relating to collection of fines

Agencies without statutory authority

Debt collectors, landlords and process servers do not usually have any specific statutory authority to obtain information from the Ministry of Social Development.

Requests for information from these agencies should be considered as Official Information Act 1982 requests and assessed on a case by case basis.

If you are unsure about what to do with a request for information from another agency, can contact the Privacy team at  for advice.

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