Wong Pansy: Privacy (Cross-border Information) Amendment Bill — Procedure Second Reading Third Reading 
Wong Pansy: Privacy (Cross-border Information) Amendment Bill — Procedure Second Reading Third Reading 
[Volume:666;Page:13659] 
Hon PANSY WONG (Minister for Ethnic Affairs) 
 on behalf of the  
Minister of Justice 
: I move  
That the Privacy (Cross-border Information) Amendment Bill be now read a second time 
. The Privacy Act is currently silent on the cross-border enforcement of privacy law. This bill remedies that and enables us to assure our international trade partners that their customers’ personal information will be protected by New Zealand law. The bill enables the Privacy Commissioner to issue a notice prohibiting the transfer to a third country of personal information sent to New Zealand from overseas if there is evidence of an attempt to circumvent the privacy laws of the source country. This legislation also allows foreign nationals who are resident overseas to make information privacy requests although public sector agencies will be able to charge for making that information available. Finally the bill establishes a mutual assistance framework that will enable the Privacy Commissioner to cooperate with overseas privacy enforcement authorities on the handling of complaints. 
I thank the Justice and Electoral Committee for its careful consideration of the bill and indicate the Government’s support for the amendments it recommended. The committee identified a gap that unintentionally limited the commissioner’s powers when undertaking an inquiry into cross-border sharing of personal information. To close this gap the committee recommended aligning the powers of the Privacy Commissioner to conduct a cross-border inquiry with the powers she currently has to conduct an investigation into a complaint under the Privacy Act under new section 114BA to be inserted by clause 8. 
The committee also recommended changes to new section 114B which specifies a criterion that the Privacy Commissioner must consider when deciding whether to issue a transfer prohibition notice. The committee found that the first two subsections which concern the protection of personal information received from overseas overlapped and it recommended removing subsection (1)(b). The committee also suggested that subsection (1)(c) was not sufficiently flexible because it incorporated by reference the basic principles of national application set out in the OECD Guidelines Governing the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data. The committee recommended that those principles should be incorporated in a schedule to ensure that any future changes to the principles were not automatically incorporated into the Privacy Act. A schedule that can be amended by Order in Council has been included. Other amendments to the bill involve clarifying provisions or are of a technical or administrative nature. 
The committee considered the Privacy Commissioner’s concerns about whether the current grounds for complaint and the commissioner’s enforcement powers needed to be extended. The committee also considered whether a specific provision was required relating to the sharing of information with overseas privacy enforcement authorities but the Minister is satisfied that the existing provisions of the Privacy Act are sufficient to deal with the issue the commissioner raises. 
This Government is committed to enhancing the international competitiveness of New Zealand - based businesses in cross-border commerce. We recognise that consumers too are affected by increasing globalisation and developments in e-commerce. I welcome the benefits that the bill offers to businesses and consumers alike and I commend this bill to the House.