OIA requests

In New Zealand, you can request government information (official information) and can expect it to be made available unless there is a good reason to withhold it.

Many aspects of the work we do are subject to the Official Information Act 1982open_in_new (OIA). You are entitled to request information from us under the OIA.

Information relating to the BSA’s functions as a tribunal, namely the process of making decisions on complaints, is not ‘official information’ under the OIA, so we do not release this type of information.

Before you make a request

Check if the information is already available on this site. To promote openness and transparency and foster public trust, we proactively publish official information including:

Decisions on complaintsopen_in_new: All BSA decisions dating back to 1989.
Annual Reportsopen_in_new: These include details of complaints determined each year.
Statements of Intent / Statements of Performance Expectationsopen_in_new: These set out our strategy and what we plan to get done each year.
Chief Executive expensesopen_in_new.
Research reportsopen_in_new: These cover topics relevant to the broadcasting sector and BSA decision making, including testing community attitudes to standards issues.

Making a request

If the information you’re looking for isn’t available on our site, you can make an OIA request.

Please email your request to info@bsa.govt.nz or post it to: Broadcasting Standards Authority, PO Box 9213, Wellington 6141.

Make sure you include:

your name
your email address or postal address
specific details of the information you’re seeking.

Further assistance

Making an official information requestopen_in_new

Guide to making OIA requestsopen_in_new produced by the Ombudsman.

See the Directory of Official Informationopen_in_new to make sure you’re looking for your information in the right place.

Our response

We’ll respond as soon as practical, and no later than 20 working days after we receive your request. The OIA allows for extensions in certain circumstances. We’ll let you know if we need an extension.

The Act allows us to withhold information for specific reasons. If we do this, we’ll explain why.

What if I’m not satisfied?

Contact us first to see if we can resolve the issue. You can also make a complaint to the Office of the Ombudsmanopen_in_new.

Publishing responses

The BSA may proactively release information in line with the Government’s commitment to the Open Government Partnership National Action Plan. This includes publishing our responses to OIA requests.

Our responses may be published below around one working week after the requester has received their response.

The requester's name and address will be removed where the requester is an individual.

Generally we will not publish certain information, including:

anyone’s personal information
private or confidential information
information that may impact third parties
information requests that are not in the public interest
information we’ve decided to withhold on OIA grounds.

We reserve the right to decide which responses we’ll publish, and why.

Directory of Official Information

The Directory of Official Information, published by the Ministry of Justice, is a resource to assist people in making official information requests by:

giving a detailed picture of the structure of central Government departments and organisations
enabling people to find out exactly where their requests for information should be made.

The Directory of Official Information can be found hereopen_in_new, and the BSA’s entry can be found here (317 KB, Pdf).

OIA requests Ngā tono Ture Mōhiohio Ōkawa

Before you make a request

Making a request

Our response

Publishing responses

Directory of Official Information

Proactive releases since 1 February 2019