The guiding principle of the Official Information Act 1982 is that information must be made available if requested, unless a reason exists under the Act for withholding it.

Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission is progressively developing a suite of guidance to help agencies meet their obligations under the Act in terms of managing:

  • OIA requests
  • organisation OIA systems and processes.

Contact us if your organisation needs advice or assistance to in regards to the OIA.

oiaforum@publicservice.govt.nz

Guidance for practitioners

The guidance for practitioners covers different aspects of responding to a request for official information with hints and tips to help agencies manage and respond to these.  It complements the guidance published by the Office of the Ombudsman.

Processing an Official Information Act Request(PDF, 202 KB)

Complying with the OIA – media responses(PDF, 291 KB)

Contacting requesters(PDF, 158 KB)

Minister and Agency Official Information Requests(PDF, 144 KB)

Extensions and the Official Information Act - Section 15A(PDF, 130 KB)

Information Requests Requiring Substantial Collation or Research(PDF, 191 KB)

Transferring Information Requests - Section 14(PDF, 141 KB)

Resources and publications — Ombudsman New Zealand

Practice notes

The OIA practice notes provide specific guidance on the application of some areas of the OIA.

OIA requests for draft reports, correspondence and advice(PDF, 230 KB)

Agency website guidance

This outlines how agencies can structure their websites to make it easy for New Zealanders to request information. 

Agency website guidance(PDF, 142 KB)

Example: Official Information Act Requests

Proactive release of official information

This provides guidance on developing internal policies and practices in relation to the proactive release of official information, including responses to requests for information under the Official Information Act. 

Proactive release

OIA statistics guidance

More information and guidance on the collection and publication of agency OIA statistics is available.

OIA statistics