Office of the Privacy Commissioner
PO Box 10094, The Terrace, Wel ington 6143
Level 11, 215 Lambton Quay
Wellington, New Zealand
P +64 4 474 7590 F +64 4 474 7595
E [email address]
0800 803 909 Enquiries
privacy.org.nz
28 October 2021
Victoria Muninn
Emailed to:
[FYI request #16962 email]
Tēnā koe Victoria
Official Information Act request: correspondence with Digital Identity New
Zealand
This letter responds to your request of 30 September 2021, under the Of icial Information Act
1982 (OIA), for ‘all correspondence with Digital Identity New Zealand by the Commissioner
and his staff since the 2017 general election.’
Section 206 of the Privacy Act imposes an obligation for the Privacy Commissioner and the
Commissioner’s staff to maintain secrecy in respect of all matters that come to their knowledge
in the exercise of their functions under the Act. However, the obligation of secrecy does not
apply where, in the Commissioner’s opinion, information ought to be disclosed for the
purposes of giving effect to the Act.
I have reviewed the information that falls within the scope of your request in light of this secrecy
provision. I have decided that it does assist in giving effect to the Privacy Act to release
information that il ustrates my Office’s approach to certain issues, and whose release has not
been objected to by Digital Identity New Zealand (DINZ).
Accordingly, documents that fall within the scope of your request are at ached. The documents
consist of emails and their associated attachments.
I have withheld certain information because of the secrecy requirements in section 206 of the
Privacy Act. This means that they are withheld under section 18(c)(i) of the OIA: making the
information available would be contrary to the provisions of another enactment. Specifically, I
have redacted all contact details and most names of individuals from DINZ and other
organisations that form part of the correspondence. Withholding this information is also
consistent with section 9(2)(a) of the OIA (protection of the privacy of natural persons).
Please also note the following points:
• DINZ was established in November 2018, so there is no correspondence with DINZ
before that date.
OIA/0151/A767944
2
• In some cases, information has been redacted because it is not within the scope of
your request (where there is an email chain, part of which is not correspondence
between DINZ and my Office).
• My Office has not found a response on file to the 13 December 2019 email from the
then Executive Director of DINZ, regarding participation in a project on AML reliance.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
freephone 0800 802 602.
Nāku iti noa, nā
John Edwards
Privacy Commissioner
Encls.
/A767944