Office of the Privacy Commissioner | Privacy Commissioner welcomes closer cooperation with UK Information Commissioner
Privacy Commissioner John Edwards has welcomed a memorandum of understanding with the UK’s Information Commissioner for cross-border cooperation and to foster international collaboration.
The memorandum, which was signed this week, establishes a framework for cooperation between the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and the Information Commissioner’s Office.
The framework sets out broad principles of collaboration between the two regulators and the legal framework governing the sharing of relevant information and intelligence between them but excludes the sharing of personal information.
Mr Edwards says the memorandum acknowledges the nature of the modern global economy, the exponentially increasing flows of personal information, and the evolving sophistication and diversification of information technologies, and continues to strengthen our international partnership.
“Against this backdrop of increasing complexity, domestic data and privacy regulators will increasingly need to work with international partners to better protect and enforce the privacy and data rights of their citizens.
“The signing of this memorandum signals an important symbolic step in mutual collaboration between our two offices on issues that would benefit from having a cross-border, multi-faceted approach.”
The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office has a broad range of statutory duties, including monitoring and enforcement of data protection laws, and promotion of good practice and adherence to the data protection obligations by those who process personal data.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is New Zealand’s independent privacy and data protection regulator under the Privacy Act which governs how public and private sector agencies collect, use, disclose, store and give access to personal information, as well as codes of practice issued under the Privacy Act.
The Memorandum of Understanding can be found here.