Can one government agency share my information with another agency?

If you’re concerned that your information has been shared between government agencies without your consent, we recommend you get in touch with the agency that originally collected your information, and ask it to explain why it has shared your information. We suggest this because whether government agencies are allowed to share your personal information depends on the answers to a couple of questions.

Firstly, is the government agency operating under a law which specifically requires or permits them to disclose your information to another government agency or department? For example, the law applying to some government departments might say that they are required to report certain matters to Police. If another law requires or permits the disclosure of your information, this won’t raise issues under the Privacy Act. Alternatively, the department might have a formally approved information sharing agreement that allows them to share specific information for specific purposes.

Secondly, what did the agency tell you when it collected your personal information about why it was collecting the information, what it would be doing with the information, and whether it would be sharing that information with anyone else?

Often more than one government agency will be working together in order to provide a combined response on a specific issue (for instance Police and the Ministry of Social Development might be working together to provide assistance to families dealing with domestic violence).

If the agency tells you it will be sharing the information with another government department when it asks you for information, and you provide it, then it can pass on this information and it won’t breach the Privacy Act.

However, if the agency isn’t relying on another law, and didn’t originally tell you it would be sharing your information, then it shouldn’t disclose your information unless an exception applies (for a full list of the relevant exceptions, see principle 11).

Best practice would be for the agency to get your consent before passing on your information, but there are a number of other exceptions which could apply (for instance agencies can disclose your information where it’s necessary for law enforcement purposes).

If you’re not satisfied with the agency's response, and you believe the disclosure has harmed you in some way, you can make a complaint to us.