Official information requests

Before making a request please check our other sources of information.  You may find the information that you require is already available:

• Our RESOURCES section, which contains Annual Reports and other publications, Chief Executive expenses, news and speeches, and the New Zealand Information Security Manual
• ABOUT US, which talks about our history, the New Zealand Intelligence Community,  our UK/US allies, legislation, and external oversight
• OUR WORK, which outlines the scope of our work
• The Protective Security Requirements website
• An outline of the Intelligence and Security Act 2017 and related fact sheets (which include strengthening oversight of NZSIS and GCSB and the protections available for New Zealanders)
• The website of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS), which contains media releases, publications (including Annual Reports and IGIS reports)
• The FYI website, which contains responses to previous GCSB OIA requests

We will acknowledge your request and are required by law to give you our decision on your request as soon as possible, and no later than 20 working days after we receive your request.

If we need more time to make our decision on your request, for example, if you are requesting a lot of information, we will let you know and will give you an idea of how long it will take.  You can complain to the Office of the Ombudsman if you are not happy with our decision to extend the time.

We will also let you know within ten working days if it is necessary to transfer your request to another agency or Minister of the Crown.

Here is further guidance on how we will respond to your request.

You can see data on the number of requests that we receive each year and the timeliness of our responses on the Official Information Act statistics part of SSC’s website.

Requesting official information is free, although we can charge a reasonable amount if it will take a lot of work to supply the information requested.  Find out more in our guidanceon how we will respond.

If you are not happy with our decision to charge, you can complain to the Office of the Ombudsman.

You may wish to contact us in the first instance to see if we can resolve the issue.

You can make a complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman if you:

• Have concerns regarding the decision that we made on your request; and/or
• Were unhappy about the way that your request was treated or processed.

These concerns can relate to the withholding of information, extending the timeframe to respond to you, any charges for providing the information that you have requested, delays in providing you with a decision or the information, or your request being transferred.

The Office of the Ombudsman can investigate and review our decision and may make a recommendation to us if it is considered appropriate.

The objectives of GCSB are to contribute to the national security of New Zealand; the international relations and well-being of New Zealand; and the economic well-being of New Zealand.

Everything that we do needs to be in accordance with New Zealand law and New Zealand’s human rights obligations, and is subject to a very stringent warranting and oversight regime.

We aim to be as open as possible about our work. Due to the sensitive nature of what we do, however, revealing details about what we do or do not know can prejudice New Zealand’s interests. We could be the target of co-ordinated information requests from people who want to know if they are under investigation, and who may share responses with each other to draw conclusions about what we are or are not aware of or the nature of our capabilities.

This means that sometimes we may need to respond to a request for information with “we can neither confirm nor deny the existence or non-existence of information”. The following points can, however, provide reassurance about the protections that are in place for New Zealanders:

• GCSB (and the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service) must obtain a Type 1 intelligence warrant to authorise them to carry out otherwise unlawful activities for the purpose of collecting information about or to do any other thing directly in relation to New Zealanders;
• GCSB (and NZSIS) can only obtain a Type 1 intelligence warrant when the activity is either:
• Necessary to contribute to the protection of national security and identifies, enables the assessment of, or protects against any of the harms listed in section 58(2) of the Intelligence and Security Act; or
• Will contribute to the international relations and wellbeing of New Zealand or the economic wellbeing of New Zealand and there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the New Zealander (or in some limited situations, a class of New Zealander) is acting, or purporting to act, for or on behalf of a foreign person, foreign organisation, or designated terrorist entity.
• A Type 1 intelligence warrant must be jointly issued by the Minister responsible for both agencies and a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and is subject to review by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security;
• GCSB carries out information assurance and cyber security activities, which may involve collecting information about New Zealanders. Those activities must be lawful (such as carried out with consent), or authorised by an intelligence warrant; and
• GCSB (and NZSIS) are also subject to the Privacy Act 1993, including Information Privacy Principles that limit the purposes for which agencies may collect, use, and disclose personal information.