Office of the Privacy Commissioner | Case Note 210634 [2009] NZPrivCmr 19: Date of birth displayed on secondhand dealers' licences
A man complained to us that Secondhand Dealers' licences contain the holder's date of birth. These licences must be displayed to the public. The man was concerned that publicly displaying the date of birth could create a risk of identity theft, and also that a date of birth is a personal matter.
We raised the issue with the Ministry of Justice.
Section 8 of the Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act 2004 ('the Act') provides that an application for a Secondhand Dealer's Licence must include:
an applicant's full name;
residential address; and
date of birth.
Section 36 of the Act sets out that every licence holder must ensure that a certified copy of their licence is displayed in their place of business.
The Act does not require that a date of birth has to be included on the licence issued to a secondhand dealer. Section 9 of the Act only requires that the licence must include a photograph of a licence holder.
We asked the Ministry of Justice whether there was any authority under which the licence had to show the date of birth.
The Ministry of Justice consulted the Licensing Authority. The Authority accepted that there was no express statutory requirement for an individual's date of birth to appear on either the original licence or the certified copy that must be displayed in the licence holder's place of business. The date of birth was simply included as an additional means of identification for the purposes of section 36(1) of the Act, which requires a licence holder, on request, to show their licence to a member of the Police.
The Licensing Authority proposed to review the practice. In the meantime, the Licensing Authority has taken steps to delete the date of birth from the certified copy of the licence that must be displayed in the licence holder's place of business.
We considered that this was an appropriate resolution of the man's complaint. The man was also satisfied at the outcome of our investigation.
We therefore closed our investigation.
October 2009
Disclosure of personal information - secondhand dealers' licence - date of birth included on licence and displayed to public - settlement: review of policy; Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act 2004, sections 8, 9 & 36