Tçnâ koe,

Thank you for your Official Information Act request. We need to be satisfied that your request meets the requirements under section 12(1) of the OIA. To that end, could you please provide us with a form of ID that proves you meet the eligibility criteria for an OIA, that being:
• a New Zealand citizen; or
• a permanent resident of New Zealand; or
• a person who is in New Zealand; or
• a body corporate which is incorporated in New Zealand; or
• a body corporate which is incorporated outside New Zealand but which has a place of business in New Zealand.

This information can be sent to us at the email address here: https://www.gcsb.govt.nz/information-rel...

Once we have received confirmation of eligibility, we will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and, in any event, no later than 20 working days after the day that your request was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe.

Ngâ mihi
GCSB

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Kia ora H,

Thank you for your message. Our reading of section 12 differs from yours in two respects. First, making a request through FYI is not acting on behalf of FYI. Second, an OIA request is limited to those in s 12; the "may" does not make the list open.

The Office of the Ombudsman has guidance referring to FYI and establishing identity: https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/site...

Information confirming eligibility can be sent to us at the email address here: https://www.gcsb.govt.nz/information-rel...

Ngâ mihi
GCSB

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Good afternoon H

We have not received the evidence of your eligibility to make a request under the OIA. As such, we cannot accept your request at this time.

You are welcome to re-submit your request with the required evidence of eligibility at any time. If you are not comfortable sending proof of eligibility to the GCSB directly you are welcome to share this with the Office of the Ombudsman, and ask that they confirm your eligibility with us. Once we are satisfied that your request meets the requirements under section 12(1) of the OIA we can proceed.

Kind regards
GCSB

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Dear H

 

We ask for assurance that a requester is eligible to make a request under
section 12 of the OIA before proceeding. The assurance we seek is that
which is enough to make clear that you are a New Zealand citizen or
permanent resident or are in New Zealand. One way to do this is to provide
evidence, like a copy of a New Zealand driver licence, or passport, or
utility bill. Another is to tell us your name and where you are living.
Another way would be to send us your assurance that you are in New Zealand
with something that substantiates that, like a photo of that day’s local
newspaper. We are flexible in the ways you can provide us assurance that
you are a person eligible to make a request, but all we have at the moment
is a letter “H”, the request itself, and your reply that a person in New
Zealand can make a request. While this might suggest you are a person in
New Zealand, at this stage, we do not consider we have enough information
to be satisfied you are eligible to make a request.

 

The Ombudsman's guidance states agencies are entitled to make reasonable
enquiries to satisfy themselves that a requester is eligible to make a
request under the OIA
([1]https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/site...
- refer page 4). Once a requester has confirmed eligibility once they will
not be asked to do so again (assuming they use the same FYI account).

 

The Ombudsman's guidance and FYI.org also recommends that requesters use a
real name when making a request ([2]https://fyi.org.nz/help/privacy). If
you do not want to provide evidence of your eligibility to make a request
to us directly, you are welcome to contact the Office of the Ombudsman, or
ask FYI.org to make a request on your behalf (refer Can I make an OIA
request using a pseudonym? on  [3]https://fyi.org.nz/help/privacy).

 

As noted previously, we cannot accept your request until we are satisfied
you have met the eligibility requirements. You have the right to seek an
investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.  Information
about how to make a complaint is available at
[4]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602. 

 

Kind regards

GCSB

 

 

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