Does a search of my bag or other personal property raise any issues under the Privacy Act?

It may. Depending on the circumstances of the search, other laws may directly cover the searching, such as the Search and Surveillance Act 2012(external link).

An agency searching your belongings are likely to be finding out personal information about you and this may raise issues under the Privacy Act and its collection principles. These principles require an agency collecting information to have a lawful purpose for collecting the information, to collect it from you directly unless one of the exceptions applies, and to be fair and lawful in their method of collection.

For example, an employer must have a clear and lawful purpose for undertaking any sort of search of an employee’s belongings. There might have been a spate of thefts at work, or a business might have discovered drug and alcohol use in areas where machinery is being operated.

A business should make sure it has clear written policies that set out under what circumstances it would conduct searches. Similarly, a retailer should display notices to inform customers of the circumstances under which it would request a bag search.

Here’s an example of a complaint we received about bag searches in a workplace and how we dealt with it.

If you are concerned that an agency has collected information about you and has breached one of the collection principles, feel free to contact our enquiries team for advice through our online form at privacy.org.nz/enquiries.