Privacy Act 2020

The Privacy Act 2020 came into effect on 1 December 2020. The updated rules mean businesses and organisations have new obligations for keeping personal information safe - including that of customers, clients and employees.

Any business that deals with its customers/employee’s personal information must have a readily available privacy policy. Personal information is any information about an identifiable individual (a natural person). It includes, without limit, name, address details, and personal preferences.

If you have a website:

Many website platforms automatically collect sensitive information (name, IP address etc) from website visitors. Therefore, you must have your privacy policy available via your business’ website and available with your mobile app (if applicable). Many third-party services used to enhance website performance (like payment processing tools, analytics suites and advertising plug-ins) also require you to have a Privacy Policy.

Note: Your Privacy Policy is your business’ public statement of how you will comply with the Act. Therefore, you need to ensure that you are able to comply with it.

If you want further information on the Act, the Privacy Commissioner’s website has some useful guides (see www.privacy.org.nz).

We are also able to help you with this, please feel free to get in touch with us at info@sass.nz or call 03 5777 128