Ngā kawenga matua - Te Ture Mauhanga Tūmatanui 2005
Key obligations under the Public Records Act 2005
Learn more about the Public Records Act 2005 including your key recordkeeping requirements, our responsibilities, the purpose of the Act and who it covers.
The Public Records Act provides a regulatory framework for managing information
The Public Records Act 2005 (the Act) establishes a regulatory framework for information and records management across the public sector.
View the Public Records Act 2005 in full on the New Zealand Legislation website
Section 3 sets out the purpose of the Act. The relevant regulatory provisions are:
to provide for the role of the Chief Archivist in developing and supporting government recordkeeping, including making independent determinations on the disposal of public records and certain local authority archives
to enable the Government to be held accountable by ensuring that full and accurate records of the affairs of central and local government are created and maintained
to provide for the preservation of — and public access to — information and records of long-term value
to enhance public confidence in the integrity of public information and records and local authority information and records
to provide an appropriate framework within which public offices and local authorities create and maintain public records and local authority records, as the case may be.
The Public Records Act covers public offices and local authorities
The Act covers public offices and local authorities, defining them in section 4.
Public offices
Public offices are the agencies and instruments of the legislative, executive and judicial branches of central government. They include:
government departments
Crown entities
Crown research institutes
state enterprises
district health boards
tertiary institutions
state and integrated schools.
The definition of a public office is broad. You should check with us to clarify your organisation’s status.
Local authorities
Local authorities include:
all regional councils and territorial authorities
council-controlled organisations
local government organisations
council-controlled trading organisations.
Our responsibilities under the Public Records Act
Good information and records management practices are key to building public trust in the integrity and reliability of government. Through our use of the regulatory tools and powers provided by the Act, we enable government to be held accountable.
In relation to managing information, our responsibilities include:
authorising the disposal (for example, the transfer or destruction) of information and records
issuing mandatory and discretionary standards and instructions
providing advice and issuing guidance on how to manage information and records
monitoring and reporting on compliance
providing protocols and processes for deferring the transfer of information and records
issuing the criteria of the independent auditing of the recordkeeping practices of public offices
inspecting public office and local authority information and records, and recordkeeping practices
controlling and administering public archives
preserving and providing access to public archives.
Your responsibilities under the Public Records Act
The Act sets out obligations on public offices and local authorities (public sector organisations) when:
creating
maintaining
providing access to, and
disposing of (for example, transferring or destroying) information and records.
Find out more about your organisation’s responsibilities under the Act
The following sections of the Act set out your public sector organisation’s key recordkeeping responsibilities for the control of public and local authority information and records.
Requirement to create and maintain records
Section 17 of the Act sets out your key duties in relation to the requirement to create and maintain information and records.
Every public office and local authority must create and maintain full and accurate information and records of its affairs, in line with normal prudent business practice. This includes the records of any business outsourced to an independent contractor.
Every public office must maintain all public information and records that are in its control, until their disposal is authorised. You should maintain the information and records in an accessible form, so they can be used and reused later.
Every local authority must maintain all protected information and records that are in its control, until their disposal is authorised. You should maintain the information and records in an accessible form, so they can be used and reused later.
Authority required to dispose of public records and protected records
Section 18 of the Act sets out the permission you need to dispose of public and protected records.
No person may dispose of — or authorise the disposal of — public information and records or protected information and records except with the authority of the Chief Archivist unless disposal is required by or under another Act.
Mandatory transfer of public records
Section 21 of the Act sets out when it’s mandatory for your organisation to transfer public records.
Every public office must transfer from its possession and control, public information and records that have been in existence for 25 years, unless they are authorised to be destroyed, transferred before the expiry of 25 years, or their transfer is deferred.
Transfer of records
Section 23 of the Act sets out what your obligations are if you transfer information and records to another organisation.
A public office that takes over responsibility for a function which includes public information and records, must give notice to the Chief Archivist of the transfer within 3 months. The same applies for local authority information and records.
Protected records of local authorities
Section 40 of the Act sets out local authorities’ responsibilities for protected information and records. Protected information and records are those that the Chief Archivist has determined are “worthy of protection”. These information and records can only be destroyed with the approval of the Chief Archivist.
A local authority must provide for the adequate protection and preservation of protected information and records it holds, in accordance with any applicable standards or instructions. The local authority must also not dispose of these unless they have first given notice to the Chief Archivist of their intention to do so.
The following sections of the Act set out requirements for public access to information and records.
Requirement to classify access status of public office records
Sections 43 and 44 of the Act set out requirements for classifying or determining the access to public information and records.
When public information and records have been in existence for 25 years or are about to be transferred to the control of the Chief Archivist, their access status must be classified as either ‘open’ or ‘restricted’.
When classifying or determining the access status of public information and records, the administrative head of the controlling public office must consider whether there are good reasons to restrict public access, or whether there is another statutory reason for the information and records to be withheld from access by members of the public.
Requirement to classify the access status of local authority records
Sections 45 and 46 of the Act set out requirements for classifying or determining the access status of local authority information and records.
When local authority information and records become local authority archives, their access status must be classified as either ‘open’ or ‘restricted’.
When classifying the access status of a local authority archive, the administrative head of the controlling local authority must consider whether there are good reasons to restrict public access, or whether there is another statutory reason for the local authority archive to be withheld from access by members of the public.
Public inspection of open access records
Section 47 of the Act sets out how you are required to make open access information and records available to the public.
Unless the Act provides otherwise, ‘open access’ information and records must be made available for inspection by members of the public free of charge. This should be as soon as is reasonably practicable after a request to inspect them is made to the public office, the local authority, the approved repository, or to us, whichever has possession of the ‘open access’ information and records.
Our regulatory tools
In our role as the regulator of the public recordkeeping system, we work with public sector organisations to assist them in ensuring compliance with the Act. We have a range of tools we can use if your organisation does not comply with the Act.