File No. DOIA 2122-1585
14 March 2022
Melinda Clasper
[FYI request #18515 email]
Dear Melinda
Thank you for your email of 10 February 2022 requesting the following under the Official Information Act
1982 (the OIA):
Under the Official Information Act, we would like to submit you a list of selected Business Industry
Classification (BIC) codes to acquire the fol owing information.
a)
BIC Code
b)
BIC Descriptor
c)
Company Status e.g. Removed / Registered / Liquidation
d)
Company Legal Name and/or Partnership
e)
Company Registration Number (7-Digits)
f)
NZBN
g)
Director/s and/or Owner/s of the business
h)
Trading Name
i)
Contact Details
a.
Email
b.
Phone
j)
Full Address Details (Unit and Street Number, Street Name, Suburb, City, Post Code)
a.
Physical Location
b.
Postal Address
Please advise if we’re able to email you our list of selected BIC codes.
On 11 February 2022, we emailed to ask you to supply the list of Business Industry Classification (BIC)
codes and we received the list from you on 17 February 2022. On 22 February 2022 we emailed to inform
you that we treated this as a clarification of your request and therefore, would respond to your request
on or before 17 March 2022.
Attached are three separate files of data for companies, partnerships and sole traders that have indicated
their BIC code when they were issued with a New Zealand Business Number (NZBN).
Te Whakatairanga Service Delivery
15 Stout Street, PO Box 1473, Wel ington 6140 New Zealand
E [email address]
T +64 4 472 0030
W www.mbie.govt.nz
The caveats and limitations of the data are set out below.
1. Only companies and NZBN entities that have voluntarily provided their BIC codes are included in
the list.
2. Partnerships and sole traders which have provided their BIC code but have elected to make their
BIC code private are excluded from the list.
3. NZBN entities with more than one BIC code appear more than once on the spreadsheet.
4. Only information which is publicly available on the companies register and the NZBN register is
included. Privacy flags are displayed where necessary.
Company information, such as telephone numbers and email addresses, unless publicly available on the
NZBN tab on the company’s summary page on the companies register, has been withheld under section
9(2)(a) of the OIA to protect the privacy of natural persons.
In terms of section 9(1) of the OIA, I am satisfied that, in the circumstances, the withholding of this
information is not outweighed by other considerations that render it desirable to make the information
available in the public interest.
Your request for information relating to partnerships and sole traders is partially refused under section
18(c)(i) of the OIA, as the making available of the information requested would be contrary to the
provisions of the New Zealand Business Number Act 2016 (the Act). Under section 24(1) of the Act, the
Registrar is required to keep and operate the NZBN register in a manner that allows members of the
public to access and search public primary business data only. For partnerships and sole traders, the public
primary business data that is available is their trading area, their NZBN, the kind of entity, the status,
industry classification, website, and any other primary business data that the NZBN entity elects to make
publicly available. Under section 26 of the Act, private data may only be released by the Registrar to a
third party if the NZBN entity consents to that release.
For similar information requests, please submit your request though the Companies Office’s Data Services
page at
https://www.companiesoffice.govt.nz/data-services/request-data/.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of my decision to withhold
information relating to this request, in accordance with section 28(3) of the OIA. The relevant details
can be found at:
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
Yours sincerely
Bolen Ng
National Manager, Business Registries
