Inspired by the Privacy Commissioner John Edwards and his straight talking, aspirational goals for New Zealand citizens, NZRise submitted our perspective on the proposed Privacy Bill – see below.

First up we recommend you listen to John’s fireside chat with Miki:

Listen to “John Edwards – NZRise privacy fireside chat” on Spreaker.

NZRise Privacy Bill submission – NZRise – Submission on the Privacy Bill (May 2018)

Below is an overview of our submission:

We support the Bill. However, we believe that the changes in the Bill do not go far enough. We support the additional changes proposed by the Privacy Commissioner in his 2016 report. We also propose a number of other changes designed to align the Bill more closely with the GDPR, about to come into force in the European Union.

Our Conclusion

3.1  The Privacy Bill represents an important opportunity for Parliament to reform New Zealand’s now-outdated privacy regime. It has come at a particularly opportune time in that privacy and data security and topical issues that are presently in the forefront of many New Zealand organisations’ collective consciousnesses as they prepare for compliance with the GDPR.

3.2  We urge the Justice Committee to seize this opportunity and embrace the changes recommended above in order to demonstrate that New Zealand is a jurisdiction which takes privacy seriously.

3.3  We believe that New Zealand should be a leader in championing the rights of data subjects.

3.4  The Bill, as currently worded, is a good start. However, without some significant changes along the lines of those proposed in this submission, it would amount to a relatively insignificant reform falling well short of the standards of privacy protection that exist in jurisdictions comparable to ours. We strongly support the idea that the Privacy Bill should bring New Zealand closer to the position adopted in the GDPR, which we believe represents global best practice and will influence the privacy laws of countries across the world.

3.5  NZRise exists to support NZ based software firms who are exporting to the world as a trusted providers of technology services. This trust requires strong national laws to ensure that New Zealand companies continue to enjoy frictionless access to overseas markets and export revenue. While NZ is seen in particular by the EU as currently having ‘adequate’ compatibility there is a risk that with the introduction of GDPR we lose our preferential access to European Consumers.

3.6  NZRise would welcome an opportunity to present our views to the select committee should the opportunity arise.

Any questions please feel free to contact the Co-Chairs of NZRise via [email protected]

Victoria MacLennan and Don Christie

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