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May 19 2014

New Zealand Data Protection Authority's Powers Held Back by Government Veto

"The Privacy (Giving Privacy Commissioner Necessary Tools) Amendment Bill that would have given greater powers of control to the New Zealand data protection authority, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (the DPA), has been blocked by a negative vote in New Zealand Parliament. The draft bill proposed by the Labour opposition party states, ""At the moment, enforcement of the Privacy Act 1993 is complaints-driven. People can complain to the Privacy Commissioner about breaches of their privacy rights under the Act. But the Commissioner has only limited powers to take action about breaches of the Act of its own initiative. Such a system is not well suited to addressing underlying systematic problems."""