Public Records Act 2005

Discharge

25 Discharge of public records

  • (1) The Chief Archivist may authorise in writing the discharge of a public record only if—

    • (a) the Chief Archivist considers that the public record is suitable to be discharged; and

    • (b) the public record is an open access record that is not in current use; and

    • (c) the release of the public record is consistent with the principles of the Privacy Act 1993; and

    • (e) the administrative head of the controlling public office agrees to the public record being discharged; and

    • (f) the person to whom the public record is to be discharged is not a Minister of the Crown, the Chief Archivist, an employee in the department, the Archives Council, a member of the Archives Council, or an employee of the controlling public office.

    (2) The Chief Archivist may authorise in writing the discharge of a class of public records that contains information about identified persons only if—

    • (a) the Chief Archivist considers that the class of public records is suitable to be discharged; and

    • (b) the administrative head of the controlling public office agrees to the class of public records being discharged; and

    • (c) the Chief Archivist and the administrative head have entered into an agreement for the discharge of the class of public records on a record by record basis; and

    • (d) there are appropriate procedures to ensure that a record is discharged only to the person who is the subject of the information, or to the duly authorised agent of that person; and

    • (e) the discharge of the class of records is consistent with the principles of the Privacy Act 1993.

    (3) A public record that is discharged—

    • (a) becomes the property of the person to whom it is discharged; and

    • (b) ceases to have status as a public record or to be subject to this Act.

    (4) A public record discharged under this section must be noted in the discharge register, in accordance with section 19(1)(b).

    Section 25(1)(f): amended, on 1 February 2011, by section 14 of the Public Records Amendment Act (No 2) 2010 (2010 No 133).