Public Sector (Data Sharing) Act 2016

Subject to subsection (2), the provision of public sector data by a public sector agency to another public sector agency is lawful for the purposes of any other Act or law that would otherwise operate to prohibit that provision (whether or not the prohibition is subject to specified qualifications or exceptions) if—

this Act provides that the agency is authorised to provide the other public sector agency with the public sector data; and

the agency provides the public sector data to the data recipient only for the purpose to which the authorisation relates.

Nothing in this Act authorises, permits or requires a data recipient—

to use or disclose public sector data received under this Act for a purpose other than the purpose to which the authorisation to provide the data relates; or

to deal with any public sector data to which the State Records Act 1997 applies after it is provided under this Act otherwise than in compliance with the State Records Act 1997.

If a document (within the meaning of the Freedom of Information Act 1991) is provided by a data provider to a data recipient under this Act, despite the Freedom of Information Act 1991 the following provisions apply:

a person does not have a right to access the document under that Act from the data recipient and must not be given access to the document by the data recipient;

insofar as an application to the data recipient seeks access to the document under that Act—

the data recipient must refer the application to the data provider; and

the application is taken to be transferred to the data provider under section 16(1)(b) of that Act but the data recipient is not required to forward a copy of the document to the data provider under section 16(2) of that Act.

This Act is not intended to prevent or discourage the sharing of public sector data by public sector agencies if it is proper and reasonable to do so or if it is permitted or required by or under any other Act or law.