28 April 2026
IR-01-26-13111
Craig Innes
[FYI request #34482 email]
Tēnā koe Craig,
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request dated 13 April 2026. I
have answered each of your questions below:
Number of complaints received that communications from the Firearms Authority
have been identified as spam and therefore not received by intended recipients.
Te Tari Pūreke – Firearms Safety Authority receive feedback via the Registry, email and
our websit
e https://www.firearmssafetyauthority.govt.nz/give-feedback. We have received
one complaint regarding our communications being identified as spam and therefore not
received by the intended recipient.
Communications with communications companies and any protocols or
memorandum of understanding ensuring that communications from the Firearms
Authority are not identified as spam and therefore not directly received by
intended recipients
The Firearms Safety Authority do not hold any communications, protocols or
memorandum of understanding with communications companies ensuring that
communications from the Firearms Safety Authority are not identified as spam. Therefore,
this part of your request is refused pursuant to section 18(g) of the OIA, as the
information requested is not held.
We use Spark’s email-to-text service, which is owned by Police, to send messages. Apple
and Android devices use their own spam-filtering systems, which take user reports into
account. If recipients report texts as spam, those messages may eventual y be flagged
across devices. This classification is determined by the device providers and is outside of
our control.
Police also hold the contract for our bulk email provider, which uses a reputation-based
IP address. We have worked hard to build a strong reputation on this service however as
with our email-to-text service, if recipients col ectively mark our emails as spam, this can
negatively impact overall email deliverability.
You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review this decision if you are not satisfied
with the response to your request. Information about how to make a complaint is
available at:
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
Te Tari Pūreke – Firearms Safety Authority
Telephone: 0800 844 431
www.firearmssafetyauthority.govt.nz
Te Tari Pūreke – Firearms Safety Authority is a business unit of New Zealand Police.
For your information, Police has developed a process for proactive release of information,
so the anonymised response to your request may be publicly released on the New
Zealand Police website.
Nāku noa, nā
Mike McIlraith
Director - Communities and Corporate
Firearms Safety Authority
