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The telephone and video interpreting language service providers are required to comply with the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 and when a participating agency uses the telephone and video interpreting services to communicate with you, that agency’s privacy statement also applies to the information you share with them.
Call recording
As part of language assistance services' commitment to providing the best possible service to its clients, interpreted calls are recorded (some agencies opt out). Calls are recorded for quality assurance and training purposes, helping the language providers to monitor and improve the quality of telephone and video interpreting services it provides through its interpreters. Calls are also recorded for dispute resolution purposes, so that should a dispute arise there is a record of the information being disputed.
We understand your personal information is important to you and we are committed to protecting your privacy. As an agent of the agency with whom you are communicating through interpreters, the telephone and video interpreting service providers store the call recordings securely on behalf of that agency. At times agencies will also record calls themselves. The language providers securely store call recordings for two years and destroy them safely after this period, unless otherwise required by law.
Collection
When a government agency uses telephone and video interpreting services to communicate with you, they collect personal information about you for the purposes of providing telephone or video interpreting services. The personal information is limited to that which you disclose over the phone to them or in writing, for the purpose of booking an interpreter, or when providing feedback. This information is viewable by the language provider’s staff and interpreters for the purpose of providing interpreting services.
Your personal information may also be accessed and used by the government agencies’ and the language provider’s administrative staff, for the purpose of administering, providing quality control and evaluating the telephone and video interpreting services. This may include biographic data which you choose to provide. If you decide not to provide biographic data, or feedback about the services you received, this will not affect your ability to use the telephone and video interpreting services.
Holding of information
Your personal information will be held by the language provider and in limited circumstances by a government agency. The language provider will take reasonable precautions to store and keep your personal information secure in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020.
Your personal information may be accessed by the language provider or agency staff or authorised third parties (including third party service providers) for the purposes contained in this privacy statement or any other lawful use.
The language provider will generally only retain personal information as long as it is required for the purposes for which the information may lawfully be used. Where any information provided (which may include personal information) to, or through, the language provider’s site or telephone interpreting services constitutes a public record, it will be retained to the extent required by the Public Records Act 2005.
Disclosure of information
The language service providers will generally not share your personal information unless you authorise that disclosure or its use to another party to the telephone and video interpreting services. Other parties to the telephone and video interpreting services do have the ability to access the recorded calls for the purposes of training, quality assurance or resolving a dispute.
Your personal information may also be disclosed when disclosure is required or permitted by law. A government agency may also be required to disclose information under the Official Information Act 1982 or to a Parliamentary Select Committee or Parliament in response to a Parliamentary Question.
Your rights to access or correct personal information
You have the right to:
- find out whether the language provider or any agency using the telephone and video interpreting services hold personal information about you;
- access that information; and, if applicable
- request corrections of that information.
If you want to check personal information being held about you, please write to the Privacy Officer of that agency by contacting them directly.
If an agency has a good reason for refusing a request for correction, you are entitled to request that a statement is attached to the information of the correction that was sought but not made.