Policing Amendment Act 2015
Policing Amendment Act 2015
Public Act |
2015 No 108 |
|
Date of assent |
6 November 2015 |
|
Commencement |
see section 2 |
Contents
The Parliament of New Zealand enacts as follows:
1 Title
This Act is the Policing Amendment Act 2015.
2 Commencement
This Act comes into force on the day after the date on which it receives the Royal assent.
3 Principal Act
This Act amends the Policing Act 2008 (the principal Act).
4 New sections 95A to 95F and cross-heading inserted
After section 95, insert:
International policing: information sharing to assist corresponding overseas agency
95A Interpretation
In this section and in sections 95B to 95F, unless the context otherwise requires,—
agency-to-agency agreement means an international disclosure instrument that is an agreement between the Police and 1 or more corresponding overseas agencies
biometric information means information that relates to an individual, whether or not currently identifiable, that is 1 or more of the following:
(a)
fingerprints:
(b)
palm-prints:
(c)
an iris scan
corresponding overseas agency—
(a)
means an overseas person, body, or agency that is empowered to perform functions that correspond, wholly or partly, to any of the functions set out in section 9; and
(b)
includes Interpol and every overseas person, body, or agency appointed under article 32 of the constitution of Interpol to co-operate with Interpol
international disclosure instrument means an instrument that provides for the disclosure of personal information to a corresponding overseas agency, being an instrument that is—
(a)
an international arrangement or agreement to which the Government of New Zealand is a party; or
(b)
an agency-to-agency agreement; or
(c)
the constitution of Interpol and any instrument adopted under article 44 of that constitution
Interpol means the International Criminal Police Organization
personal information means information about an identifiable individual and includes biometric information.
95B Disclosure of personal information
(1)
If the requirements of this section are met, the Commissioner may disclose any personal information held by the Police to a corresponding overseas agency.
(2)
The disclosure of the personal information must be reasonably necessary to enable the corresponding overseas agency to perform a function in its jurisdiction that the Police perform in New Zealand under section 9.
(3)
Personal information under this section may be disclosed only—
(a)
in accordance with an international disclosure instrument; or
(b)
in accordance with directions issued by the Commissioner under section 95C for the disclosure of personal information outside of an international disclosure instrument.
(4)
For the purposes of this section, personal information may be disclosed to a corresponding overseas agency by disclosing the information to an overseas person, body, or agency that is authorised to act on behalf of the corresponding overseas agency.
(5)
Subsections (1) to (4) do not affect any other enactment that requires or allows disclosure of personal information (whether or not of a particular kind and whether or not disclosure is required to be made in a prescribed manner).
(6)
For the purposes of Part 8 of the Privacy Act 1993, a person is taken to have breached an information privacy principle under section 66(1)(a)(i) of that Act if the person contravenes a provision of this section.
95C Commissioner may issue directions to certain Police employees
(1)
The Commissioner may issue written directions relating to the disclosure of personal information outside of an international disclosure instrument under section 95B to any Police employees authorised to make that disclosure under delegated authority.
(2)
The directions must identify authorised Police employees but need not identify particular individuals and may instead identify the positions that the employees hold or the groups to which they belong.
(3)
Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), the directions may do either or both of the following:
(a)
describe the circumstances in which personal information may be disclosed without a request from the corresponding overseas agency:
(b)
set out any criteria in addition to those stated in section 95B for disclosing any personal information.
95D Agency-to-agency agreements subject to consultation with Privacy Commissioner
The Commissioner must consult the Privacy Commissioner before any agency-to-agency agreement is entered into or varied.
95E Publication of certain agency-to-agency agreements and directions
(1)
As soon as practicable after an agency-to-agency agreement enters into force at any time after the commencement of this section, the Commissioner must make a copy of the agreement publicly available.
(2)
When an agency-to-agency agreement that is in effect before the commencement of this section is first reviewed following that commencement, the Commissioner must, as soon as practicable after that review, make a copy of the agreement (as modified or proposed to be modified by the review) publicly available.
(3)
As soon as practicable after issuing any directions under section 95C, the Commissioner must make a copy of the directions publicly available.
(4)
However, this section does not apply to—
(a)
an agency-to-agency agreement, or to any directions, that may be withheld under the Official Information Act 1982 or whose existence need not be confirmed or denied under that Act:
(b)
any provision of an agency-to-agency agreement, or of any directions, that may be withheld under the Official Information Act 1982.
(5)
For the purposes of this section, a copy is publicly available if it is—
(a)
available for inspection, free of charge, at the Police National Headquarters on any working day; and
(b)
accessible, free of charge, on an Internet site maintained by or on behalf of the Commissioner.
95F Saving for existing international disclosure instruments
(1)
Sections 95B to 95E do not affect an international disclosure instrument that entered into force before the commencement of this section and every such instrument continues in force according to its tenor until it expires or is terminated.
(2)
Despite subsection (1), an agency-to-agency agreement that entered into force before the commencement of this section becomes subject to sections 95B to 95E immediately after the conclusion of the first review of the agreement that is, in accordance with the provisions of that agreement, undertaken after that commencement.
(3)
Despite subsection (1), an agency-to-agency agreement that entered into force before the commencement of this section expires on the close of the day that is the 5th anniversary of the commencement of this section if the agreement has not been reviewed before that anniversary.
Legislative history
21 October 2015 |
Divided from Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Legislation Bill (Bill 219–2) as Bill 219–3N |
|
4 November 2015 |
Third reading |
|
6 November 2015 |
Royal assent |
This Act is administered by the New Zealand Police.