New Zealand Acts

PUBLIC RECORDS ACT 2005 - SECT 4

4 Interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—  
"academic staff" means members of the staff of a tertiary education institution who engage in teaching students or undertaking research or both    
"administrative head" means, in relation to—  

a) a public office that is not a public office to which paragraph (b) applies, the person responsible for the performance of that office, for example, a chief executive within the meaning of section 2(1) of the Public Finance Act 1989 :

b) a public office that involves carrying out a statutory function, the holder of that office, for example, the Registrar-General of Land:

c) a local authority, the person responsible for the performance of the local authority, for example, the chief executive appointed under section 42 of the Local Government Act 2002 or the chief executive of an organisation referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of the term local authority in section 4

"approved repository" means a repository approved by the Minister under section 26   
"Archives Council" and
"Council" mean the Archives Council established by section 14     
"Archives New Zealand" means the repository referred to in section 9     
"Chief Archivist" means the Chief Archivist referred to in section 10     
"chief executive" means the chief executive of the department    
"controlling local authority" , in relation to a local authority record,—  

a) means the local authority that controls the local authority record; and

b) includes any successor to that local authority

"controlling public office" —

a) means,—

i) in relation to a public record, the public office that controls the public record:

ii) in relation to a public archive, the public office that has power to determine conditions of access to the public archive; and

b) includes any successor to that public office

"department" means the department of State that, with the authority of the Prime Minister, is for the time being responsible for the administration of this Act  
"discharge register" means the register referred to in section 19(1)(b)     
"discharged record" means a record the status of which as a public record is cancelled in accordance with section 25     
"disposal" , in relation to a public record or local authority record, means—  

a) the transfer of control of a record; or

b) the sale, alteration, destruction, or discharge of a record

"electronic" includes electrical, digital, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, biometric, and photonic  
"estray record" —  

a) means a public record, public archive, or protected record that has been disposed of otherwise than—

i) in accordance with an authorisation of the Chief Archivist under this Act; or

ii) as required by or under another enactment; but

b) does not include a discharged public record

"local authority" —

a) has the same meaning as in section 5(1) of the Local Government Act 2002 ; and

b) includes the following organisations defined in section 5(1) of that Act :

i) a council-controlled organisation:

ii) a council-controlled trading organisation:

iii) a local government organisation

"local authority archive" —

a) means a local authority record that—

i) is no longer in current use by the controlling local authority; or

ii) has been in existence for 25 years or more (whether or not in current use); and

b) includes—

i) a protected record; and

ii) a local authority record that the controlling local authority resolves is worth permanent preservation

"local authority record" means a record or class of records in any form, in whole or in part, created or received (whether before or after the commencement of this Act) by a local authority in the conduct of its affairs  
"Minister" means the Minister of the Crown who, under the authority of any warrant or with the authority of the Prime Minister, is for the time being responsible for the administration of this Act    
"Minister’s papers" means records created or received (whether before or after the commencement of this Act) by a Minister while holding office as a Minister of the Crown    
"open access record" means—  

a) a public record—

i) that has been in existence for at least 25 years or has been transferred to the control of the Chief Archivist; and

ii) that is classified as an open access record under section 44(2) ; and

iii) to which public access has not been prohibited under section 49 :

b) a local authority archive—

i) that is classified as an open access record under section 46(2) ; and

ii) to which public access has not been prohibited under section 49

"parliamentary record" means a record presented to, or belonging to, the House of Representatives or any of its committees  
"prescribed record" means a record declared under section 38 to be a prescribed record for the purposes of this Act    
"private record" means a record that is not created in, or received by, a public office or local authority, and that is not a Minister’s paper    
"protected record" means a local authority record declared under section 40 to be a protected record for the purposes of this Act    
"public access register" means the register referred to in section 19(1)(d)     
"public archive" means a public record that is under the control of the Chief Archivist    
"public office" —  

a) means the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the Government of New Zealand; and

b) means the agencies or instruments of those branches of government; and

c) includes (without limiting the agencies or instruments)—

i) departments as defined in section 5 of the Public Service Act 2020 including a departmental agency (as defined in that section) hosted by a department and an interdepartmental executive board (as defined in that section) serviced by a department; and

ia) interdepartmental ventures as defined in section 5 of the Public Service Act 2020 ; and

ii) Offices of Parliament as defined in section 2(1) of the Public Finance Act 1989 ; and

iii) State enterprises as defined in section 2 of the State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986 ; and

iv) Crown entities as defined in section 7(1) of the Crown Entities Act 2004 ; and

v) the Parliamentary Counsel Office; and

vi) the Parliamentary Service; and

vii) the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives; and

viii) the New Zealand Police; and

ix) the New Zealand Defence Force; and

x)

xa) the Approved Agency under the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 , in its role under that Act; and

xb) the Charter Schools Authorisation Board established under section 212A of the Education and Training Act 2020 ; and

xc) the Federation of Polytechnics Committee established under section 325 of the Education and Training Act 2020 ; and

xd) an industry skills board established under section 362 of the Education and Training Act 2020 ; and

xi) any person or class of persons declared by an Order in Council made under section 5(1)(a)(i) to be a public office for the purposes of this Act

"public record" —

a) means a record or a class of records, in any form, in whole or in part, created or received (whether before or after the commencement of this Act) by a public office in the conduct of its affairs; and

b) includes—

i) a record or a class of records declared under section 5(1)(a)(ii) to be a public record for the purposes of this Act; and

ii) estray records; but

c) does not include—

i) a special collection; or

ii) records created by the academic staff or students of a tertiary education institution, unless the records have become part of the records of that institution

"record" means information, whether in its original form or otherwise, including (without limitation) a document, a signature, a seal, text, images, sound, speech, or data compiled, recorded, or stored, as the case may be,—

a) in written form on any material; or

b) on film, negative, tape, or other medium so as to be capable of being reproduced; or

c) by means of any recording device or process, computer, or other electronic device or process

"responsible Minister" means—

a) the Minister of the Crown for the time being responsible for the administration of a controlling public office; or

b) in the case of a controlling local authority, the Minister of the Crown for the time being responsible for the administration of the Local Government Act 2002

"restricted access record" means a record to which access has been restricted in accordance with section 44(3)   
"special collection" —  

a) means records collected by a public office for purposes such as research or the preservation of records; but

b) does not include public records

"standards" means the standards issued by the Chief Archivist under section 27   
"Statistician" has the meaning given to it in section 6 of the Data and Statistics Act 2022     
"student" means a person enrolled at a tertiary education institution    
"tertiary education institution" has the same meaning as in section 7(1)(e) of the Crown Entities Act 2004     
"tikanga Māori" means Māori customary values and practices.  

History: Section 4 Archives New Zealand: substituted, on 1 February 2011, by section 4(1) of the Public Records Amendment Act (No 2) 2010 (2010 No 133).   Section 4 chief executive: inserted, on 1 February 2011, by section 4(3) of the Public Records Amendment Act (No 2) 2010 (2010 No 133).     Section 4 department: inserted, on 1 February 2011, by section 4(3) of the Public Records Amendment Act (No 2) 2010 (2010 No 133).     Section 4 Minister: substituted, on 1 February 2011, by section 4(2) of the Public Records Amendment Act (No 2) 2010 (2010 No 133).     Section 4 public office paragraph (c)(i): replaced, on 7 August 2020, by section 135 of the Public Service Act 2020 (2020 No 40).     Section 4 public office paragraph (c)(ia): inserted, on 7 August 2020, by section 135 of the Public Service Act 2020 (2020 No 40).     Section 4 public office paragraph (c)(x): repealed, on 28 September 2017, by section 335 of the Intelligence and Security Act 2017 (2017 No 10).     Section 4 public office paragraph (c)(xa): inserted, on 21 November 2016, by section 28 of the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 (2015 No 63).     Section 4 public office paragraph (c)(xb): inserted, on 1 October 2024, by section 76 of the Education and Training Amendment Act 2024 (2024 No 40).     Section 4 public office paragraph (c)(xc): inserted, on 22 October 2025, by section 50 of the Education and Training (Vocational Education and Training System) Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 56).     Section 4 public office paragraph (c)(xd): inserted, on 22 October 2025, by section 50 of the Education and Training (Vocational Education and Training System) Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 56).     Section 4 Statistician: amended, on 1 September 2022, by section 107(1) of the Data and Statistics Act 2022 (2022 No 39).