Does the Office of the Privacy Commissioner have to investigate when it receives a complaint?

We may not always investigate a complaint, or we may not investigate it fully. For example, this might be because:

• The complaint does not involve a potential breach of one of the privacy principles

• The incident happened too long ago

• The complaint relates to personal, family or domestic affairs

• There is an alternative way of dealing with the matter which is more appropriate in the circumstances

• There is an internal complaints procedure which needs to be followed first

• The complaint is about a breach of someone else's privacy and does not raise wider privacy concerns

• In the circumstances, further investigation is unnecessary or inappropriate.

Find out more about what to do if we can't help here.