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Confidentiality of Documents Policy Addendum

Version 1.2

Status: Adopted
Date: 2 April 2003

Introduction

This document forms the Addendum to the Confidentiality of Documents Policy adopted at the Council Meeting held 25 May 2001. (The term 'Documents' has a wide definition in the Policy and includes Minutes, Reports, Mailing Lists, and written documents.

Effect

Once the Addendum is adopted, the new Policy comes into effect. The Policy is not retrospective, that is, documents created prior to the Policy coming into effect were created with the degree of openness/confidentiality understood at that time and this will not be changed retrospectively.

Application

The Council has three structures for undertaking work, namely, limited term Working Groups, the longer term Standing Committees, and the Council as a whole.

1. Working Groups

All Workings Groups will have a statement of the openness and confidentiality of their documents. Existing Working Groups will determine their status from the time the Policy comes into effect and notify the Council. The default Policy will be assumed unless the Working Group specifies otherwise.

The default policy is:

All formal documents are public domain, all working documents are confidential to the Working Group members.

Formal Agendas are public

Formal Minutes are public

Formal Reports are public. These include draft and progress reports sent to Council. Monthly Reports to Council will be listed on, and linked from, the Agenda prior to the meeting. Reports to Members, Stakeholders, and the Public will be in the Public area of the website.

Open (i.e. public) mailing lists, if they exist, are public

The Archive of the open Working Group Mailing List, if it exists, is public

Intermediate drafts prepared by the Working Group for its own purposes remain confidential.

The internal Working Group Mailing List is confidential, including Working Papers circulated on the list.

The Archive of the internal Working Group Mailing List is confidential.

It is the responsibility of the Working Group Convenor to ensure that any confidential material in Reports or Minutes is so marked (for example as a Confidential Appendix) and to draw this to the Webmaster's attention to ensure that the relevant section is placed in the Confidential area of the website.

The Society encourages its working groups to archive working papers for subsequent historic reference. It is the responsibility of the Chair of the Working Group to collect this information. Any material so archived will become public at such time as the Working Group is dissolved.

2. Standing Committees

All Standing Committees will have a statement of the openness and confidentiality of their documents. Existing Standing Committees will determine their status from the time the Policy comes into effect and notify the Council. The default Policy will be assumed unless the Standing Committee specifies otherwise.

The default policy is:

All formal documents are public domain, all working documents are confidential to the Standing Committee members.

Formal Agendas are public

Formal Minutes are public

Formal Reports are public. These include draft and progress reports sent to Council. Monthly Reports to Council will be listed on, and linked from, the Agenda prior to the meeting. Reports to Members, Stakeholders, and the Public will be in the Public area of the website.

Open (i.e. public) mailing lists, if they exist, are public

The Archive of the open Standing Committee's Mailing List, if it exists, is public

Intermediate drafts prepared by the Standing Committee Working Group for its own purposes remain confidential.

The internal Standing Committee's Mailing List is confidential, including Working Papers circulated on the list.

The Archive of the internal Standing Committee's Mailing List is confidential.

It is the responsibility of the Standing Committee Chair to ensure that any confidential material in Reports or Minutes is so marked (for example as a Confidential Appendix) and to draw this to the Webmaster's attention to ensure that the relevant section is placed in the Confidential area of the website.

The Society encourages its standing committees to archive final working papers for subsequent historic reference. It is the responsibility of the Chair of the Standing Committee to collect this information. This archive remains confidential for twelve months.

3. The Council

The Council will have a statement of the openness and confidentiality of its documents. The default Policy will be assumed unless the Council specifies otherwise.

The default policy is:

All formal documents are public domain, all working documents are confidential to the members of Council.

Formal Agendas are public. Monthly Reports to Council will be listed on, and linked from, the Agenda prior to the meeting. Reports to Members, Stakeholders, and the Public will be in the Public area of the website. These include draft and progress reports sent to Council.

Prior to the adoption of Reports by Council, the Reports will be annotated as "Report Submitted to the Council Meeting of DDMMYYY". After the adoption of the Report the annotation will change to " Report Adopted by the Council Meeting of DDMMYYY"

Any material marked as Confidential in a Report to Council remains Confidential after the Report's adoption unless a unanimous vote determines otherwise.

Formal Minutes are public

Formal Officer's Reports (e.g., the Chair's Report) are public

The status of Reports to Council which are not covered by other sections will be determined on a case by case basis (e.g., Domainz Board Reports or reports commissioned from external agencies.). The expectation is that these Reports will be public unless determined otherwise.

The Archive of the open Council Mailing List, if it exists, is public.

Intermediate drafts prepared by the Council for its own purposes remain confidential.

The internal Council Mailing List is confidential, including Working Papers circulated on the list.

The Archive of the internal Council Mailing List is confidential.

It is the responsibility of the Councillor concerned to ensure that any confidential material in Reports is so marked (for example as a Confidential Appendix) and to draw this to the Webmaster's attention to ensure that the relevant section is placed in the Confidential area of the website.

The Council will archive the final working papers for subsequent historic reference. It is the responsibility of the Chair of the Council to collect this information. This archive remains confidential for twelve months.

4. Executive Director

The Executive Director's documents fall under the same terms as those of Officers of the Society.

It is the responsibility of the Executive Director to ensure that any confidential material in the Draft Minutes of Council Meetings is so marked (for example as a Confidential Appendix) and to draw this to the Webmaster's attention to ensure that the relevant section is placed in the Confidential area of the website.

5. NZOC and the Domain Name Commission

The default Policy will be assumed unless the NZOC specifies otherwise.

The default policy is:

All formal documents are public domain. All working documents are confidential to the members of the NZOC and staff of the Domain Name Commission.

Documents will be designated public or confidential at the time they are assessed for release following a request for information, unless they are already designated Confidential. Note: the principles set out in the Official Information Act will be used as the basis for decisions on the confidentiality of information.

Where information is received on the basis of confidentiality, the documents will be designated Confidential at that time.

Any material marked as Confidential in a report to NZOC or to Council remains Confidential after the report's adoption unless a unanimous vote determines otherwise.

Drafts of documents prepared remain confidential unless they are specifically published.

The internal NZOC mailing list is confidential, including working papers circulated on the list.

The archive of the internal NZOC mailing list is confidential.

Agendas and formal minutes are public. NZOC reserves the right to suppress any confidential information from the publicised minutes.

NZOC and the Domain Name Commission will respond to specific requests for information. Where they consider the request to be too broad they will seek clarification before processing the request. Where a significant staff effort is required to comply with the request, a charge may be made to cover costs. The person making the request for notification will be advised of this in advance of the work being undertaken.

6. Miscellaneous

Open (i.e. public) mailing lists, if they exist are public (for example, isocnz-l)

Restricted mailing lists, for example, the Member's mailing list, is public to the members of the list only.

Authors:
John Hine and Sue Leader

With legal comment on legal responsibilities for archiving records from
Peter Dengate Thrush and Rick Shera


Last updated 02 April 2003


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