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Over some of summer our staff won’t be working. You can still tell us about your privacy complaint(external link) or notify a breach(external link) (if you’re a business or organisation) and receive a confirmation that we’ve received it. But we won’t action anything immediately.
Our 0800 803 909 phone line will be open until 3pm on Friday 20 December 2024.
We will start answering calls again at 10am on Monday 13 January 2025.
Check whether we’ve already answered your question
Ask Us is our list of more than 600 questions and answers about privacy. It’s used by more than 16,000 New Zealanders every month so might be able to help you too.
The Privacy Commissioner will proceed with developing a privacy code of practice to create specific rules for agencies using biometrics.
We’ve made several important changes to the draft code since our last consultation and are giving people a further chance to have their say. Consultation is open now until 14 March 2025.
Learn more about the code and have your say(external link).
We're keen to work with New Zealanders to get their privacy queries and complaints sorted quickly and fairly. Before you complain to us, you need to complain directly to the business or organisation that you feel has breached your privacy.
If you haven’t been able to work out your privacy issue with them, then you can complain to us. We aim to ensure that you're treated fairly, whatever your background or circumstances. We work in accordance with the Human Rights Act 1993.
We review all the complaints we receive. If we can resolve them quickly, we will. If your case requires a complicated or comprehensive investigation, then owing to high volumes, the wait time for an investigator is up to six months.
If you're an organisation and have a privacy breach that is likely to cause anyone serious harm, you are legally required to notify us and any affected persons as soon as you can.
As a guide, our expectation is that a breach notification should be made to our Office no later than 72 hours after agencies are aware of a notifiable privacy breach. Work out whether you need to notify us.
Thousands of times each day New Zealanders provide their personal information in exchange for goods and services. They could be face-to-face with a small business or online with a large government department. All of these exchanges involve privacy.
A society that values privacy and personal information is one where its people can have greater trust in government and businesses because they know their information will be looked after.
Read about our mahi, our goals, and achievements in our 2024 Annual Report.
We can help you and your workmates learn about privacy, or sharpen your skills with our free e-learning tools. There are 10 free courses to choose from, and they are all run as online learning modules. Learn at your own pace and receive a certificate of completion.
Topics range from Privacy 101 to specialist topics like health and education. You can learn more about reporting privacy breaches, approved information sharing agreements (AISA) and more.
