Justice Centre | 19 Aitken Street
DX SX10088 | Wel ington
T 04 918 8800 |
F 04 918 8820
[email address] | www.justice.govt.nz
13 September 2024
Hannah Baxter
[FYI request #28126 email]
Ref: DSC 115131
Tēnā koe Hannah
Request regarding collection of Information for a Criminal Conviction check
Thank you for your request on 20 August 2024 to the Ministry of Justice (the Ministry).
Specifically, you requested:
Please advise under which statute governs the collection of information for criminal
conviction checks (CCH).
Please also advise which policy or statute governs the requirement for 10 years of
addresses.
I do not mind being given links to specific Hansard records.
Your request has been referred to me for a response, as it falls within my responsibilities as
Manager Centralised Services.
In response to your request, and for background information, I must advise that Criminal
Conviction History reports (CCH) are generated directly from court information which is held
on a permanent basis under s7.2 of the Criminal Procedure Rules 2012, which is reflected in
Schedule 1 of the District Court Act 2016 and schedule 2 of the Senior Courts Act 2016.
Law enforcement information, as it relates to convictions, is accessed from the court record
by the Ministry of Justice, as permitted under schedule 4 of the Privacy Act 2020 for the
purpose of generating a criminal conviction history report at the request of the applicant.
Section 172(1) of the Privacy Act 2020 describes this access.
There are no specific policies or statutes regarding the requirement for 10 years of
addresses. It is an operational decision that a minimum of ten years of addresses are
required to assure the CCH team that the correct information has been generated into the
CCH report for the requestor.
In most cases, the process to generate a CCH report is automatic, however, in some
instances manual checks are required to ensure the information to be generated in the
report matches the identity of the person requesting the record. It is important that additional
checks are completed when the need arises, to ensure private information is protected, and
released only to the person entitled to receive it. Manual checks can involve requesting
further information from the requestor to confirm the identity and generated report match.
CCH reports, and any additional information obtained to support the creation of that report
are stored temporarily while the request is being processed and while any quality assurance
checks are completed. This is generally for a period of three months, and the records are
then destroyed by the CCH team. The permanent court record, however, is retained by the
court.
If you require any further information, please contact Media & Social Media Manager Joe
Locke at [email address]
Please note that this response, with your personal details removed, may be published on the
Ministry website at: justice.govt.nz/about/official-information-act-requests/oia-responses
You have the right under section 28 of the Act to seek an investigation and review by the
Ombudsman of this response. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
ombudsman.parliament.nz or call 0800 802 602.
Nāku noa, nā
Reuben Lewthwaite
Manager Centralised Services
