It’s not often I get to blog about my Law Commission portfolio but this is definitely worthwhile mentioning.
The Law Commission has just completed an intensive, four stage review of the 1993 Privacy Act.
The Commission believes the Act could be improved in a number of areas and I have listed below a few key recommendations from the Commission:
• the complaints process under the Act should be streamlined in a number of respects, including giving the Privacy Commissioner the power to make binding decisions on complaints about people’s right to access their own personal information;
• agencies should be required to notify people when personal information held by an agency is lost or otherwise compromised (for example, through computer hacking), if the breach is sufficiently serious;
• there should be a new framework in the Act to allow the sharing of personal information between government agencies where it is in the public interest to do so, but with appropriate safeguards; and
• some exceptions to the privacy principles should be modified, for example to clarify that people can pass on information to an appropriate person where someone’s health is seriously at risk, or report suspected offending to the police.
It’s good to see that the Law Commission is conscious to keep the Act relevant in light of the massive technological and cyber advances over the past 18 years.
If you would like to keep up with this report or any others produced by the Law Commission, visit their website: http://www.lawcom.govt.nz/
