Privacy, security, and confidentiality principles Ngā mātāpono tūmataitinga, haumarutanga, matatapu hoki

We understand the value of the information you share with us, and we are committed to high standards of privacy, security, and confidentiality at all times to keep it safe:  

• Your information is protected by legislation and by the safeguards we have put in place.
  
  
• We protect your identity and do not identify individuals in published statistics or research. 
  
  
• We apply ethical, statistical, and security best-practice standards to the data we collect. Others who use the data must apply the same standards. 
  
  
• Stats NZ staff and researchers who use the information we hold sign a statutory declaration of secrecy. They must sign it before they can work with data. The declaration is a lifetime agreement to keep data confidential. 

We ensure: 

• privacy by collecting only the information we need to produce statistics and research
   
• security by keeping data safe from unauthorised access and use 
  
  
• confidentiality by not releasing information that could identify individuals, households, or businesses 
  
  
• transparency in all our processes. We work with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner to make sure we follow best practice.