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Annual report
Purpose: To improve the quality and integrity of data held on the Driver Licence Register by identifying licence holders who have died.
BDM disclosure to NZTA: BDM provides death information for the fortnight prior to the extraction date. The death details include the full name (current and at birth), gender, date and place of birth, date of death, home address and death registration number.
Compliance: Compliant.
Technical information
| Information matching provision | Births, Deaths, and Marriages Registration Act 1995, s.78A |
| Year authorised | 2001 |
| Year commenced | 2008 |
| Programme type | Confirming eligibility |
| Online transfers | Yes |
System description
Each fortnight, BDM provides NZTA with the details of newly deceased individuals. The information is originally sourced from death registration forms. The death details include full name (current and at birth), gender, date and place of birth, date of death, home address, and a Death Registration Number (The Death Registration Number is only used by NZTA in situations where they need to verify the results of a match with BDM).
To retrieve the BDM file, NZTA uses an encrypted connection to access the DIA Agency Pick-up Service, a secure web-based service available through the DIA web portal.
The extracted data is matched against a copy of the Driver Licence Register information held in the NZTA Driver Licence Data Warehouse. The matching process uses the first name(s), middle name(s), surname, date of birth and gender.
NZTA staff manually checks all match results (including exact matches) manually checked before any action is taken. Where NZTA intends to cancel a driver licence that is current or has expired within the last two years because it appears the licence holder has died, it sends a notice of adverse action (section 181 notice). For all other cases, NZTA sends a courtesy letter advising the estate that the licence record is being cancelled.
Recent Activity
Regular match runs
| 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | |
| Match runs | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 |
| Records received for matching | 32,112 | 34,042 | 33,888 | 33,775 | 33,326 | 35,138 |
| Possible matches identified | 22,179 | 23,489 | 23,431 | 24,373 | 24,019 | 28,160 |
| Notices of adverse action | 12,988 | 13,794 | 13,673 | 14,216 | 14,223 | 17,784 |
| Challenges | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Successful challenges | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Courtesy letters sent | 6,358 | 6,656 | 6,677 | 6,915 | 6,812 | 8,163 |
| Driver licence records cancelled | 19,346 | 21,806 | 21,757 | 22,021 | 21,670 | 27,233 |
Historical match run (death records for the period 1 January 1987 to 30 September 2008)
| Match runs | 1 |
| Records received for matching | 600,023 |
| Possible matches identified | 236,501 |
| Notices of adverse action | 53,680 |
| Challenges | 23 |
| Successful challenges | 23 |
| Driver licence records cancelled | 216,582 |
The utility of this provision was assessed in a report MBIE, IR and NZTA Matches (August 2014), and subsequently Department of Internal Affairs, Government Super Fund, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, National Provident Fund and New Zealand Transport Agency information matching (July 2020).
