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What is a Public Record?
Just
about any recording made by a public official to do with government business.
A public record is a record
or a class of records, in any form, in whole or in part, created or received by
a public office in the conduct of its affairs. It includes anything
declared by the
Governor-General by Order in Council as public record, as well as
estray records.
Under section 27 of the
Public Records Act 2005 (PRA), the Chief Archivist is mandated to issue
standards in relation to public records and local authority records, including
public archives and local authority archives.
Public records are recorded
information created or received by an organisation in the course of its work,
such as emails, meeting minutes, policy briefings, case files, photographs or
web pages.
Records provide documentation, or
evidence, of activities; include both original sources of information and copies
of information; and Come in a variety of media / formats. |
What is NOT a Public Record?
Records to
do with voting in elections, records collected for certain special reasons, some
records at universities, 'retired' records.
Ballot papers or voting
papers (or any associated electoral materials) sent to the Clerk of the House
under provision of S187 of the
Electoral Act 1993 or S50 of the
Referenda (Postal Voting) Act 2000 are not public records.
Voting documents or
specified materials received by Registrars of District Courts under the S89(2)
of the
Local Electoral Act 2001 or not public records.
Special collections (records
collected by a public office for purposes such as research or the preservation
of records) are not public records.
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 are not public
records.
Discharged records are not public records. |
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Responsibility to Keep Records
Local
authorities must keep records of its affairs and maintain any protected records.
1. Every local
authority must keep records
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They must
be full and accurate records of its affairs;
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They must
be kept in accordance with normal, prudent business practice;
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This
includes the records of any matter that is contracted out to an independent
contractor.
2.
Every local authority must maintain protected records
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Discharged Public Records
These
are records that have been officially 'retired'.
If the Chief Archivist
considers that an open access record that is not in current use is suitable to
be discharged, it's not subject to a request under the
Official Information Act 1982 [or
LGOIMA], and the 'owner' of the record (e.g. the CEO of the public office
responsible for the record) agrees then the record can be discharged.
The record cannot be
discharged to a Crown Minister or anyone working for the public office that
'owned' the record or anyone at Archives NZ or the Archives Council.
For a class of public
record that contains information about an identified person to be discharged the
Chief Archivist and the 'owner' have entered into an agreement for the discharge
of the class of public records on a record by record basis and 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
At all times the discharge
of any record must be consistent with the principles of the
Privacy Act 1993.
A public record that is
discharged becomes the property of the person to whom it is discharged and
ceases to have status as a public record or to be subject to the Act.
A discharged public record
must be noted in the discharge register. |
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Open Access Record
Records
that must be released for free.
Records that have been in
existence for at least 25 years or have been transferred to the control of the
Chief Archivist, are classified as "open access" under the Act, and are not
subject to prohibition under S49, are considered "open access records".
A local authority archive
that is classified as under S46(2) and is not prohibited under S49 is also an
"open access record". |
Estray Records
Records
that should be there but aren't.
An estray record is a public
record, public archive, or protected record that has been disposed of otherwise
than in accordance with an authorisation of the Chief Archivist under the
Act, or as required by or under another enactment (as in - they have "gone
astray/estray").
Discharged public records are not estray records. |
Protected Records
Local
government records that are protected by law.
The Chief Archivist may - after
consultation with any local authority concerned - declare that a local authority
record is "protected".
A local authority cannot dispose of
it unless it has written to the Chief Archivist and specified how they intend to
dispose of the protected record. |
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