The Privacy Act 1993 seeks to provide better protection for individual privacy in relation to the collection, use, access, correction, and disclosure of personal information held by any public and private sector agency.
This includes the Thames-Coromandel District Council. Personal information may be collected only for a lawful purpose connected with a function or activity of the council and only if necessary for that purpose. Such information must, as a general rule, be collected directly from the individual concerned and that person must be told why the information is needed.